nioersitt}  of 


$laus 


SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

AND 

ix  Nations 


" MAKERS  OF  AMERICA" 


SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


AND 


BY 


WILLIAM   ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MIKADO'S  EMPIRE,"  "COREA  THE  HERMIT 
NATION,"  "MATTHEW  CALBRAITH  PERRY,"  ETC. 


NEW   YORK 

DODD,   MEAD,  AND    COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1891, 
BY  DODD,  MEAD,  AND  Co. 


All  rights  reserved. 


SPRECKELS 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


Like  my  friend,  the  late  Judge  John  Sanders,  of  Scotia, 
Schenectady  County,  N.  Y.,  who  took  off  his  hat  when  meeting 
descendants  of  the  heroes  of  Oriskany,  the  bloodiest,  the  most 
stubbornly  contested,  and  perhaps  the  decisive  battle  in  the  War 
of  the  American  Revolution,  the  writer  makes  his  bow  to  the 
people  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  and  to  them,  and  to  the  memory 
of  their  brave  ancestors,  dedicates  this  sketch  of  one  of  the  Makers 
of  America. 


PREFACE. 


THE  Mohawk  Valley  in  which  Sir  William  Johnson 
spent  his  adult  life  (1738—1774)  was  the  fairest  por 
tion  of  the  domain  of  the  Six  Nations  of  the  Iroquois 
Confederacy.  In  this  valley  I  lived  nine  years,  seeing 
on  every  side  traces  or  monuments  of  the  industry, 
humanity,  and  powerful  personality  of  its  most  famous 
resident  in  colonial  days.  From  the  quaint  stone 
church  in  Schenectady  which  he  built,  and  in  whose 
canopied  pews  he  sat,  daily  before  my  eyes,  to  the 
autograph  papers  in  possession  of  my  neighbours  j  from 
sites  close  at  hand  and  traditionally  associated  with 
the  lord  of  Johnson  Hall,  to  the.  historical  relics  which 
multiply  at  Johnstown,  Canajoharie,  and  westward,  — 
mementos  of  the  baronet  were  never  lacking.  His 
two  baronial  halls  still  stand  near  the  Mohawk.  I 
found  that  local  tradition,  while  in  the  main  generous 
to  his  memory,  was  sometimes  unfair  and  even  cruel. 
The  hatreds  engendered  by  the  partisan  features  of 
the  Revolution,  and  the  just  detestation  of  the  savage 
atrocities  of  Tories  and  red  allies  led  by  Johnson's 
son  and  son-in-law,  had  done  injustice  to  the  great 
man  himself.  Yet  base  and  baseless  tradition  was  in 
no  whit  more  unjust  than  the  sectional  opinions  and 


vin  PREFACE. 

hostile  gossip  of  the  New  England  militia  which  his 
torians  have  so  freely  transferred  to  their  pages. 

In  the  following  pages  no  attempt  at  either  lauda 
tion  or  depreciation  has  been  made.  My  purpose  has 
been  simply  to  set  forth  the  actions,  influence,  and 
personality  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  to  show  the  char 
acter  of  the  people  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  and 
to  describe  and  analyze  the  political  movements  of  his 
time.  I  confess  I  have  not  depicted  New  York  people 
in  the  sectional  spirit  and  subjective  manner  in  which 
they  are  so  often  treated  by  New  England  writers.  The 
narrow  and  purely  local  view  of  some  of  these  who  have 
written  what  is  called  the  history  of  the  United  States, 
greatly  vitiates  their  work  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  do 
not  inherit  their  prejudices.  Having  no  royal  charter, 
the  composite  people  of  New  York,  gathered  from 
many  nations,  but  instinct  with  the  principles  of  the 
free  republic  of  Holland,  were  obliged  to  study  care 
fully  the  foundations  of  government  and  jurisprudence. 
It  is  true  that  in  the  evolution  of  this  Commonwealth 
the  people  were  led  by  the  lawyers  rather  than  by  the 
clergy.  Constantly  resisting  the  invasions  of  royal 
prerogative,  they  formed  on  an  immutable  basis  of 
law  and  right  that  Empire  State  which  in  its  con 
struction  and  general  features  is,  of  all  those  in  the 
Union,  the  most  typically  American.  Its  historical 
precedents  are  not  found  in  a  monarchy,  but  in  a  re 
public.  It  is  less  the  fruit  of  English  than  of  Teutonic 
civilization. 

Living  also  but  a  few  yards  away  from  the  home  of 
Arendt  Van  Curler,  the  "  Brother  Corlaer  "  of  Indian 


PREFACE.  ix 

tradition,  and  immediately  alongside  the  site  of  the 
old  gate  opening  from  the  palisades  into  the  Mohawk 
country,  I  could  from  my  study  windows  look  daily  upon 
the  domain  of  the  Mohawks,  —  the  places  of  trea 
ties,  ceremonies,  and  battles,  of  the  torture  and  burn 
ing  of  captives,  and  upon  the  old  maize-lands,  even 
yet  rich  after  the  husbandry  of  centuries.  Besides 
visiting  many  of  the  sites  of  the  Iroquois  castles,  I  have 
again  and  again  traversed  the  scenes  of  Johnson's  ex 
ploits  in  Central  New  York,  at  Lake  George,  in  East 
ern  Pennsylvania,  and  other  places  mentioned  in  the 
text.  With  my  task  is  associated  the  remembrance 
of  many  pleasant  outings  as  well  as  meetings  with  lo 
cal  historians,  antiquarians,  and  students  of  Indian 
lore.  I  have  treated  more  fully  the  earlier  part  of 
Johnson's  life  which  is  less  known,  and  more  briefly 
the  events  of  the  latter  part  which  is  comparatively 
familiar  to  all.  I  trust  I  have  not  been  unfair  to  the 
red  men  while  endeavouring  to  show  the  tremendous 
influence  exerted  over  them  by  Johnson;  who,  for 
this  alone,  deserves  to  be  enrolled  among  the  Makers 
of  America. 

My  chief  sources  of  information  have  been  the  John 
son  manuscripts,  which  have  been  carefully  mounted, 
bound,  and  are  preserved  in  the  State  Library  at  Al 
bany.  They  were  indexed  by  my  friends,  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Homes,  and  Mr.  George  R.  Howell, 
the  accomplished  secretary  of  the  Albany  Institute. 
To  the  former  I  am  especially  indebted.  The  printed 
book  to  which  I  owe  special  obligations  is  Mr. 
William  L.  Stone's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William 


X  PREFACE. 

Johnson,  Bart."  These  two  superbly  written  octavo 
volumes,  richly  annotated  and  indexed,  make  any 
detailed  life  of  Johnson  unnecessary,  and  form  a  no 
ble  and  enduring  monument  of  patient  scholarship. 

For  generous  assistance  at  various  points  and  in 
details,  I  have  to  thank,  and  hereby  do  so  most  heart 
ily,  Mr.  Edward  F.  De  Lancey,  of  New  York;  Mr. 
William  L.  Stone,  of  Jersey  City ;  Prof.  A.  L.  Perry, 
of  Williams  College  ;  Mr.  Berthold  Fernow,  keeper  of 
the  State  Archives,  Albany;  Rev.  J.  A.  De  Baun, 
D.  D.,  of  Fonda ;  Rev.  J.  H.  Hubbs,  of  Grand  Rap 
ids,  Mich.;  Rev.  Henry  R.  Swinnerton,  of  Cherry 
Valley;  Mr.  R.  A.  Grider,  the  chief  American  spe 
cialist  and  collector  of  powder-horns  and  their  art 
and  literature;  Mr.  A.  G.  Richmond,  archaeologist 
in  Indian  relics,  of  Canajoharie,  N.  Y. ;  Mrs.  I.  E. 
Wells  of  Johnson  Hall  at  Johnstown;  Mr.  Ethan 
Akin,  of  Fort  Johnson  at  Akin  near  Fonda ;  James 
Fuller,  Esq.,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  and  Major  J.  W. 
MacMurray,  U.  S.  N. ;  besides  various  descendants  of 
the  militiamen  who  served  under  the  illustrious  Irish 
man  who  is  the  subject  of  the  following  pages. 

W.  E.  G. 

BOSTON,  MASS., 

May  21,  1891. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    OUTLINE. 


1400-1600  A.  D.  Occupation  of  the  region  between  the 
Niagara  and  the  Hudson  River  by  the 
Indian  tribes  of  the  Long  House. 

I  July  29.     Defeat  of    the  Iroquois  near  Ticonde- 
roga,  N.  Y.,  by  Champlain. 
Sept.  1-23.     Hendrick  Hudson  explores  the  river 
as  far  as  the  Mohawk. 

1613.  Hollanders  build  on  Manhattan  and  Nassau 
Islands. 

1617.     Iroquois  form  an  alliance  with  the  Dutch. 

1623.  Jesse  De  Forest  and  the  Walloons  settle  and  found 
New  York  City.  —  Fort  Orange  built.  —  Settle 
ment  at  Albany. 

1630.  Patroon  Kilian  Van  Rensselaer.  —  Arrival  of 
Arendt  Van  Curler. 

1642.  Van  Curler  enters  the  Mohawk  Valley  and  ransoms 
Isaac  Jogues. 

1661.    Van  Curler  founds  the  city  of  Schenectady. 

1664.     English  Conquest  of  New  Netherlands. 

1667.     Kryn  leads  the  Caughnawaga  Indians  to  Canada. 

1690.    Massacre  at  Schenectady. 

1710.     Palatine  Germans  in  New  York. 

1713.     The  Tuscaroras  join  the  Iroquois  Confederacy. 

1715.     Sir  William  Johnson  born. 

1722.  Palatines  settle  in  Mohawk  Valley.  —  Oswego 
founded. 


xii  CHRONOLOGICAL   OUTLINE. 

1738.  Johnson  settled  at  Warrensburgh,  N.  Y. 

1740.  Johnson  made  head  of  the  Indian  Department. 

1754.  The  Congress  and  Council  at  Albany. 

1755.  Battle  of  Lake  George. 
1757.  Massacre  at  German  Flats. 

1759.  Surrender  of  Niagara  to  Johnson.  —  Fall  of  Que 
bec  and  the  French  power  in  America. 

1763.  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.  —  Johnstown  founded,  and 
Johnson  Hall  built. 

1768.     Treaty  at  Fort  Stanwix. 

1770.  January  18,  First  bloodshed  of  the  Revolution. 

1771.  First  battle  of  the  Revolution  at  Alamance,  N.  C. 

1772.  Division  of  Albany  County.  —  Johnstown  made  the 

county-seat  of  Tryon  County. 
1774.     Death  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

1777.  Battle  of  Oriskany. 

1778.  Massacre  at  Cherry  Valley. 

1779.  Brant  at  Minnisink.  —  General  Sullivan's  Expedi 

tion  against  the  Six  Nations. 

1782.  New   York's   Western  lands   transferred   to   the 

nation. 

1783.  Tories  banished  from  the  Mohawk  Valley. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.    THE  FIRST  SETTLERS  OF  THE  MOHAWK 

VALLEY    i 

II.    JOHNSON  AS  AN  INDIAN  TRADER    ...  n 

III.  THE  Six  NATIONS  AND  THE  LONG  HOUSE  35 

IV.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  A  CONTINENT     .    .  61 
V.    A  CHAPTER  IN  THE  STORY  OF  LIBERTY  .  80 

VI.    A  TYPICAL  FRONTIER  FIGHT  WITH  IN 
DIANS   92 

VII.    AT  THE  ANCIENT  PLACE  OF  TREATIES  .  109 
VIII.    THE  BATTLE  OF  LAKE  GEORGE      ...  132 
IX.     BRITISH  FAILURES  PREPARING  FOR  AM 
ERICAN  INDEPENDENCE  146 

X.    THE  "HEAVEN-BORN  GENERAL"    ...  167 
XL    DECLINE  OF  THE  INDIAN  AS  A  POLITICAL 

FACTOR 178 

XII.     LIFE  AT  JOHNSON  HALL 194 

XIII.    JOHNSON'S  FAMILY  ;  LAST  DAYS  ;  EUTHA 
NASIA  206 


SIR  WILLIAM    JOHNSON 


AND 


THE   SIX   NATIONS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   FIRST   SETTLERS   OF   THE   MOHAWK  VALLEY. 

THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY  was  first  settled  by  men 
escaping  from  feudalism.  The  manor-system,  a  sur 
viving  relic  of  the  old  days  of  lordship  and  villeinage, 
had  long  cursed  England,  Germany,  and  Holland, 
though  first  outgrown  and  thrown  off  in  the  latter 
country.  It  was  from  this  system,  almost  as  much  as 
from  Church  laws,  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  glad 
to  escape  and  find  free  labour  as  well  as  liberty  of  con 
science  in  Holland,  —  the  land  where  they  "heard," 
and  found  by  experience,  "  that  all  men  were  free." 

The  Netherlands  was  the  political  training-school  of 
the  Pilgrims,  and  of  most  of  the  leaders  of  the  Puri 
tans,  who  before  1640  settled  New  England.  In 
America  they  were  more  fortunate  than  their  more 
southern  neighbours,  in  that  they  were  freed  from  the 
semi-feudalism  of  the  Dutch  Patroons  and  the  manor- 
lords  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  Hollanders,  on 


2  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

coming  to  New  Netherland  and  settling  under  the 
Patroons,  enjoyed  far  less  liberty  than  when  in  their 
own  country.  They  were  practically  under  a  new 
sort  of  feudalism  unknown  in  their  "  Patria."  Their 
Teutonic  instincts  and  love  of  freedom  soon,  however, 
drove  them  to  relinquish  their  temporary  advantages 
as  manor-tenants,  and  to  purchase  land  from  the  In 
dians  and  settle  in  the  "Woestina,"  or  wilderness. 
These  Dutch  farmers  cheerfully  braved  the  dangers 
and  inconveniences  of  "  the  bush,"  in  order  to  hold 
land  in  fee  simple  and  be  their  own  masters. 

It  was  this  spirit  of  independence  that  led  a  little 
company  of  worthy  sons  or  grandsons  of  men  who 
had  fought  under  William  the  Silent,  to  settle  in  the 
"  Great  Flat,"  or  Mohawk  Valley.  They  were  led  by 
Arendt  Van  Curler,  who,  though  first-cousin  of  the 
absentee  Patroon  Van  Rensselaer,  of  Rensselaerwyck, 
had  educated  himself  out  of  the  silken  meshes  of 
semi-feudalism.  Finding  men  like-minded  with  him 
self,  who  believed  that  the  patroon  or  manor  system 
was  a  bad  reversion  in  political  evolution,  he  led  out 
the  Dutch  freemen,  and  founded  the  city  of  Schenec- 
tady.  On  the  land  made  sacred  to  the  Mohawks  for 
centuries,  by  reason  of  council-fires  and  immemorial 
graves,  this  free  settlement  began.  Here,  not  indeed 
for  the  first  time  in  New  Netherlands,  and  yet  at  a 
period  when  the  proceeding  was  a  novelty,  the  set 
tlers  held  land  in  fee  simple,  and  demanded  the  rights 
of  trade. 

It  was  before  1660  that  these  men,  who  would 
rather  have  gone  back  to  Patria,  or  Holland,  than 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  3 

become  semi-serfs  under  a  manor-lord,  came  to  Van 
Curler,  or  "Brother  Corlaer"  as  the  Iroquois  called 
him,  and  asked  him  to  lead  them  westward.  In  Fort 
Orange,  July  21,  1661,  in  due  legal  form,  by  pur 
chase  from  and  satisfaction  to  the  Mohawk  Indian 
chiefs,  the  Indian  title  was  extinguished.  Thus,  by  a 
procedure  as  honourable  and  generous  as  William 
Penn's  agreement  with  the  Lenni  Lenapes  under  the 
great  elm  at  Shackamaxon,  was  signalized  the  entrance 
of  Germanic  civilization  in  the  Mohawk  Valley. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1662  Van  Curler  led  his 
fourteen  freemen  and  their  families  into  their  new 
possession.  Travelling  westward,  up  what  is  now 
Clinton  Avenue  in  Albany,  until  they  reached  Nor 
man's  Kill,  they  struck  northward,  following  the  In 
dian  trail  of  blazed  trees,  until  after  a  circuit  of  twenty 
miles  they  reached  their  future  home,  on  a  low  pla 
teau  on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk.  On  this  old  site 
of  an  Indian  village  they  began  the  erection  of  their 
houses,  mill,  church,  and  palisades.  The  aboriginal 
name  of  the  village,  from  which  the  Mohawks  had 
removed,  pointed  to  the  vast  piles  of  driftwood  de 
posited  on  the  river- flats  after  the  spring  floods ;  but 
not  till  after  the  English  conquest  did  any  one  apply 
the  old  Indian  name  of  the  site  of  Albany  —  that  is, 
"  Schenectady  "  —  to  Van  Curler's  new  settlement. 
Both  French  and  Indians  called  the  village  "Corlaer," 
even  as  they  also  called  the  Mohawk  River  "the 
river  of  Corlaer,"  and  the  sheet  of  water  in  which  he 
was  drowned,  not  after  its  discoverer,  Champlain,  but 
"Corlaer's  Lake."  Nevertheless,  since  the  Mohawks 


4  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

had  already  retired  from  the  Hudson  River,  and  "  the 
place  outside  the  door  of  the  Long  House  "  was  no 
longer  Albany,  but  "  Corlaer,"  they  and  the  Europe 
ans,  soon  after  1664,  began  to  speak  of  the  new  set 
tlement  as  "  Schenectady ;  "  especially,  as  by  their 
farther  retirement  up  the  valley,  " Corlaer"  was  now 
the  true  "  Schenectady ;  "  that  is,  outside  the  door  of 
the  Iroquois  confederacy  or  Long  House.  Schenec 
tady  enjoys  the  honour  of  being  more  variously 
spelled  than  any  other  place  in  the  United  States ; 
and  its  name  has  been  derived  from  Iroquois,  Ger 
man,  and  Japanese,  in  which  languages  it  is  possible 
to  locate  the  word  as  a  compound.  It  is  a  softened 
form  of  a  long  and  very  guttural  Indian  word. 

Then  was  begun,  by  these  Dutch  freeholders,  the 
long  fight  of  fifty  years  for  freedom  of  trade  with  the 
Indians.  Their  contest  was  against  the  restrictive 
jealousy  of  Albany,  including  both  Colony  and  Manor. 
With  Dutch  tenacity  they  held  on,  until  victory  at 
last  crowned  their  persistence  in  1727. 

In  a  word,  in  its  initiation  and  completion,  the 
opening  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  to  civilization  forms 
a  noble  episode  in  the  story  of  American  freedom. 
One  of  the  first  places  in  New  York  on  which  the 
forces  representing  feudalism  and  opposed  to  free- 
holding  of  land,  and  on  which  mediaeval  European 
notions  arrayed  against  the  ideas  which  had  made 
America  were  beaten  back,  was  at  Schenectady,  in 
the  throat  of  the  Mohawk  Valley.  Here  was  struck 
by  liberty-loving  Hollanders  a  key-note,  of  which  the 
long  strain  has  not  yet  ceased. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  5 

The  immigrants  who  next  followed  the  Dutch  pio 
neers,  —  like  them,  as  real  settlers,  and  not  as  land- 
speculators  and  manor- builders,  —  and  who  penetrated 
still  farther  westward  up  the  valley,  were  not  English, 
but  German.  These  people,  who,  as  unarmed  peas 
ants  in  the  Rhine  Valley,  had  been  unable  to  resist 
the  invasion  of  Louis  XIV.  or  to  face  the  rigours  of 
poverty  in  their  desolated  homeland,  made  the  best 
sort  of  colonists  in  America.  Brought  by  the  British 
Government  to  settle  on  remote  frontiers,  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  contact  with  Indians,  Spaniards,  and  French 
men,  these  sturdy  Protestants  soon  proved  their  abil 
ity,  not  only  to  stand  their  ground,  but  to  be  lively 
thorns  in  the  sides  of  despotic  landlords,  crown-agents, 
and  governors. 

The  "  first  American  rebel "  Leisler,  born  at  Mann 
heim  in  Germany,  was  a  people's  man.  In  his  own 
rude  way  he  acted  with  the  intent  of  making  ideas 
dominant  then,  which  are  commonplace  now.  His 
"  rebellion  "  grew  out  of  a  boast  made  by  the  British 
Lieutenant- Governor  Nicholson,  that  the  Dutch  colo 
nists  were  a  conquered  people,  and  not  entitled  to 
the  right  of  English  citizenship.  Hanged,  by  order 
of  a  drunken  English  governor,  near  the  site  of  the 
Tribune  Building,  May  16,  1691,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  he  will  yet  have  his  statue  in  the  metro 
politan  city  of  America.  He  belongs  to  the  list  of 
haters  of  what  is  falsely  named  aristocracy,  the  un- 
American  state-church  combination,  and  other  relics 
of  feudalism  which  survive  in  England,  but  which  had 
been  cast  off  by  the  Dutch  Republic,  in  whose  service 


6  S7X    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

as  a  soldier  he  had  come  to  America.  His  place  in 
the  list  of  the  winners  of  American  liberty  is  sure.1 

Under  Governor  Hunter's  auspices,  in  1710,  nearly 
three  thousand  Germans  from  the  Palatinate  settled 
along  the  Hudson  and  in  New  York.  By  a  third 
immigration,  in  1722,  ten  per  cent  was  added  to  the 
population  by  the  Palatines,  who  settled  all  along 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  advancing  farther  westward  into 
the  "Woestina."  At  German  Flats  and  at  Palatine 
Bridge  their  "  concentration  "  was  greatest.  So  jeal 
ous  were  the  money-loving  English  of  their  wool- 
monopoly,  that  these  Germans  were  forbidden  under 
extreme  penalties  to  engage  in  the  woollen  manufac 
ture.  The  same  intense  jealousy  and  love  of  lucre 
which,  until  the  Revolution,  kept  at  home  all  army 
contracts  that  could  possibly  be  fulfilled  in  Great 
Britain,  prescribed  the  ban  which  was  laid  on  the 
Mohawk  Valley  Palatines.  With  chains  thus  forged 
upon  the  Germans,  who  were  expected  to  furnish 
"  naval  stores,"  there  was  no  encouragement  for  them 
to  raise  sheep  or  improved  stock.  In  this  way  it 
happened  that  Sir  William  Johnson  was  later  enabled 
to  boast  that  he  was  the  first  who  introduced  fine 
sheep  and  other  live-stock  in  the  Mohawk  Valley. 

The  characteristics  of  these  Germans  were  an  in 
tense  love  of  liberty,  and  a  deep-seated  hatred  against 
feudalism  and  the  encroachments  of  monarchy  in 
every  form.  The  great  land-owners,  both  Dutch  and 
English,  who  wished  to  use  these  people  as  serfs, 

1  See  "The  Leisler  Troubles  of  1689,"  by  Rev.  A.  G.  Ver- 
milye,  D.D.  New  York.  1891. 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.    •  7 

found  that  they  possessed  strange  notions  of  liberty. 
Poor  as  they  were,  they  were  more  like  hornets  to 
sting  than  blue-bottles  to  be  trapped  with  molasses. 
The  Hessian  fly  had  a  barb  in  his  tail.  Loyal  to  the 
Crown,  they  refused  to  submit  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
great  landlords.  It  was  one  of  these  Germans,  a  poor 
immigrant,  that  first  fought  and  won  the  battle  of  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press.  Now,  intrenched 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  it  is  to  us 
almost  like  one  of  the  numerous  "  glittering  generali 
ties  "  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  at  which 
Englishmen  smile,  but  which  Americans,  including 
the  emancipated  negroes,  find  so  real.  Then  the 
freedom  of  the  press  was  a  dream.  In  1734  John 
Peter  Zenger,  who  incarnated  the  spirit  and  con 
science  of  these  Palatine  Germans,  was  editor  of  the 
"  New  York  Weekly  Journal."  He  was  reproached 
as  a  foreigner  and  immigrant,  for  daring  to  criticise 
the  royal  representatives,  or  ever  to  touch  upon  the 
prerogatives  of  Governor  Cosby,  the  king's  foolish 
representative.  Zenger  was  imprisoned,  but  man 
aged  to  edit  his  paper  while  in  jail.  At  his  trial  he 
was  defended  by  Hamilton,  a  lawyer  from  a  colony 
whose  constitution  had  been  written  by  the  son  of  a 
Dutch  mother,  in  Holland,  where  printing  had  been 
free  a  century  or  more  before  it  was  even  partially 
free  in  England.  James  Alexander  Hamilton  was 
the  Scottish  lawyer  who  had  left  his  European  home, 
to  the  detriment  of  his  fortune,  in  order  to  enjoy 
richer  liberty  in  Pennsylvania.  He  it  was  who  first 
purchased  Independence  Square  in  Philadelphia,  for 


8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  erection  thereon  of  the  State  House,  in  which  the 
Liberty  Bell  was  to  hang,  and  "proclaim  liberty  to 
all  the  land,  and  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 
Going  to  New  York  at  his  own  expense,  he,  with 
out  fee,  defended  Zenger  and  secured  his  acquittal. 
This  event  marks  an  important  point  in  the  making 
of  America  and  in  the  story  of  American  freedom. 
It  was  in  its  effects  as  significant  as  the  skirmish 
at  Lexington.  The  doctrine,  novel  at  that  time  in 
England  but  not  in  Holland,  was  advanced,  that  the 
truth  of  the  facts  in  the  alleged  libel  could  be  set  up 
as  defence,  and  that  in  this  proceeding  the  jury  were 
judges  both  of  the  law  and  the  facts. 

Though  hundreds  of  Germans  left  New  York  for 
the  greater  advantage  of  land  and  the  liberty  of  Penn 
sylvania,  which  had  been  settled  under  republican 
influences,  yet  those  Palatines  who  rooted  themselves 
in  the  Schoharie  and  Mohawk  Valleys  proved  one  of 
the  best  stocks  which  have  made  the  American  peo 
ple.  They  were  never  popular  with  the  men  or 
women  who  wanted  to  make  America  a  new  London 
or  a  new  England,  with  courts  and  castles,  aristocracy 
and  nobles,  so  called,  entail  and  primogeniture,  the 
landlords  of  feudal  domain,  and  other  old-world  bur 
dens.  Honest,  industrious,  brave,  God-fearing,  truth 
ful,  and  clean,  they  soon  dotted  the  virgin  forest  with 
clearings,  farms,  and  churches.  Whatever  else  in 
their  wanderings  they  lost  or  were  robbed  of,  they 
usually  managed  to  hold  to  their  hymn-books  and 
Bibles,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Reformed  Church 
men,  their  Heidelberg  Catechism.  Their  brethren 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  9 

in  Pennsylvania  —  the  holy  land  of  German- Ameri 
cans  —  published  the  first  Bible  in  America,  printed 
in  a  European  tongue ;  and  many  early  copies  found 
their  way  northward.  They  lived  on  terms  of  peace 
with  the  Indians,  treating  these  sons  of  the  soil  with 
kindness,  and  helping  them  in  generous  measure  to 
the  benefits  of  Christianity.  The  most  honest  and 
influential  of  Johnson's  Indian  interpreters  were  of 
Dutch  or  German  stock. 

Though  other  nationalities  —  Scottish,  Irish,  Eng 
lish  —  afterward  helped  to  make  the  Mohawk  Valley 
at  first  polyglot,  and  then  cosmopolitan,  it  was  by 
people  of  two  of  the  strongest  branches  of  the  Teu 
tonic  race  that  this  fertile  region  was  first  settled. 
The  dominant  idea  of  these  people  was  freedom 
under  law,  reinforced  by  hearty  contempt  for  the 
injustice  which  masquerades  under  the  forms  of  pre 
rogative  and  of  "  majesty."  For  all  the  self-styled, 
insolent  vicegerents  of  God,  in  both  Church  and  State, 
they  felt  a  detestation,  and  were  glad  to  find  in  Amer 
ica  none  of  these.  If  found,  they  felt  bound  to  resist 
them  unto  the  end.  Theirs  was  the  democratic  idea 
in  Church  and  State,  and  they  expressed  it  strongly. 

It  was  this  spirit  which  explains  the  rude  and  rough 
treatment,  by  Germans  of  both  sexes,  of  arrogant  royal 
agents  and  landlords  in  the  Schoharie  Valley,  and 
which  at  the  erection  of  churches  built  by  public 
money,  in  which  only  a  liturgical  sect  could  worship, 
led  to  turbulence  and  riot.  Certain  historic  old  edi 
fices  now  standing  were  once  finished  only  after  the 
king's  bayonets  had  been  summoned  to  protect  masons 


10  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

and  carpenters  from  people  who  hated  the  very  sight 
of  an  established  or  government  church,  built  even 
partly  by  taxation,  but  shut  to  those  of  the  sects  not 
officially  patronized. 

Among  such  a  people,  strong  in  the  virtues  of  un 
spoiled  manhood ;  exhilarant  with  the  atmosphere 
and  splendid  possibilities  of  the  New  World  j  trained 
in  the  school  of  Luther's  Bible  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism ;  taught  by  Dutch  laws  commanding  pur 
chase  of  land  from  the  aborigines,  and  by  the  pow 
erful  example  of  Van  Curler  and  their  domines  or 
pastors,  to  be  kind  to  the  Indians,  —  Sir  William  John 
son,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  makers  of  our  America, 
came  in  1738*  It  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
people  of  this  heroic  stock  that  he  married.  At  a 
susceptible  age  he  learned  their  ideas  and  way  of 
looking  at  things,  especially  at  their  method  of  justly 
treating  the  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations,  who  were 
looked  upon  as  the  rightful  owners  of  the  soil. 
Among  these  people  Johnson  lived  all  his  adult  life. 
He  was  ever  in  kindly  sympathy  with  them,  never 
sharing  the  supercilious  contempt  of  those  who  were 
and  who  are  ignorant  alike  of  their  language,  abilities, 
and  virtues. 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  II 


CHAPTER   II. 

JOHNSON    AS    AN    INDIAN    TRADER. 

THERE  is  probably  no  good  foundation  for  the  local 
tradition,  mentioned  by  Gen.  J.  Watts  De  Peyster, 
in  his  Life  of  Gen.  John  Johnson  (Preface,  p.  ii, 
note),  that  the  family  name  of  William  Johnson  was 
originally  "  Jansen,  and  that  the  first  who  bore  it  and 
settled  in  Ireland  was  a  Hollander,  who,  like  many  of 
his  countrymen,  went  over  afterward  with  William  III. 
in  1690,  won  lands  and  established  themselves  in  Ire 
land."  The  subject  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Encyclo 
paedia  Britannica,  and  but  slightly  treated  in  English 
works  of  reference,  while  he  has  been  unjustly  slighted 
by  American  writers  of  history.  According  to  his 
own  account,  William  Johnson  was  born  in  Smith- 
town,  County  Meath,  near  Dublin,  Ireland,  in  1 7 1 5  -1 
His  mother  was  Anne  Warren,  sister  of  the  brothers 
Oliver  and  Peter,  who  became  famous  officers  in 
the  British  Navy;  and  his  father,  Christopher  John- 

1  The  young  and  charming  Lord  James  Radcliffe,  Earl  of 
Derwentwater,  the  idol  of  the  Jacobites,  was  beheaded  24th  of 
February,  1716;  that  is,  on  the  very  day,  it  is  claimed  by  Col. 
T.  Bailey  Myers,  that  Sir  William  Johnson  was  born,  and  the 
wild  fervour  of  a  Jacobite  loyalty  was  still  alive  when  Sir  John 
was  a  boy.  —  DE  PEYSTER'S  Life  of  Gen.  John  Johnson,  Introd., 
p.  xvi. 


12  SfX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

son,  Esq.  Writers  and  biographers  enlarge  upon 
the  ancient  and  honourable  lineage  of  his  mother's 
family,  but  say  little  about  his  father's.  To  an 
American  this  matters  less  than  to  those  who  must 
have  a  long  line  of  known  ancestry,  real,  reputed,  or 
manufactured. 

After  some  schooling  at  a  classical  academy,  Wil 
liam  was  trained  to  a  mercantile  career.  When  about 
twenty-two  years  old,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  lass  whom 
his  parents  refused  to  permit  him  to  marry.  This 
obstacle,  like  a  pebble  that  turns  the  course  of  the 
rivulet  that  is  to  become  a  great  river,  shaped  anew 
his  life.  The  new  channel  for  his  energies  was  soon 
discovered. 

His  uncle,  Capt.  Peter  Warren,  R.  N.,  who  had 
just  returned  from  a  cruise,  heard  of  his  nephew's 
unhappy  experience,  and  made  him  the  offer  of  a 
position  promising  both  wealth  and  adventure.  Land 
speculation  was  then  rife ;  and  Captain  Warren,  like 
many  other  naval  officers  had  joined  in  the  rush  for 
lucre  by  buying  land  in  the  fertile  Mohawk  Valley. 
This  was  in  addition  to  land  which  was  part  of  his 
wife's  dowry,  so  that  his  estate  was  large,  amounting, 
it  is  said,  to  fifteen  thousand  acres.  He  appointed 
young  Johnson  his  agent,  to  work  his  farm  and  sell 
his  building-lots.  The  young  Irishman  at  once  re 
sponded  to  the  proposition.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
and  promptly  reported  in  New  York. 

Captain  Warren,  then  about  thirty  years  old,  had 
married  Susan,  the  oldest  daughter  of  Stephen  De  Lan- 
cey ;  and  it  was  probably  to  the  old  house,  then  thirty- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  13 

eight  years  old,  which  still  stands  (in  which  Wash 
ington  took  farewell  of  his  generals  in  1783),  that 
the  young  Irishman  came.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
fine  figure,  tall  and  strong,  was  full  of  ambition  and 
energy,  with  a  jovial  temper,  and  a  power  of  quick 
adaptation  to  his  surroundings.  In  short,  he  was  a 
typical  specimen  of  that  race  in  which  generous  im 
pulses  are  usually  uppermost,  and  one  of  the  mighty 
army  of  Celtic  immigrants  who  have  helped  to  make 
of  the  American  people  that  composite  which  so 
puzzles  the  insular  Englishman  to  understand. 

New  York  and  Albany  people  were  already  getting 
rich  by  inland  as  well  as  foreign  trade,  and  the  naval 
officer  wished  to  invest  what  cash  he  could  spare 
from  his  salary  or  prize  money  in  a  mercantile  ven 
ture,  to  be  begun  at  first  on  a  modest  scale  in  a 
frontier  store.  "  Dear  Billy,"  as  his  uncle  addressed 
him  in  his  letters,  was  not  long  in  discovering  that 
the  ambition  of  nearly  every  young  man  was  to  get 
rich,  either  in  the  inland  fur  or  West  India  trade,  so 
as  to  own  a  manor,  work  it  with  negro  slaves,  and 
join  in  the  pomp  and  social  splendour  for  which  the 
colony  was  already  noted.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  ambition  to  be  rich  and  influential  was  strongly 
reinforced  during  his  stay  on  Manhattan  Island. 

The  journey  north,  made  according  to  the  regular 
custom,  was  by  sloop  up  the  Hudson,  past  the  Pali 
sades,  the  Highlands,  the  Catskills,  and  the  Flats,  to 
Albany.  After  a  few  days  in  the  only  municipality 
north  of  New  York,  —  a  log  city  with  a  few  smart 
brick  houses,  —  spent  in  laying  in  supplies,  the  young 


14  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

immigrant  would  pass  through  the  pine-barrens,  and 
after  a  day's  journey  reach  the  State  Street  gate  of 
palisaded  Schenectady. 

In  the  house  of  the  tapster,  or  innkeeper,  he  would 
probably  stay  all  night.  He  would  find  the  Street  of 
the  Martyrs  (so  named  after  the  massacre  of  1690), 
and  of  the  Traders,  together  with  Front,  Ferry, 
Church,  and  Niskayuna  Streets,  lined  with  comfort 
able,  one-storied,  many-gabled  dwellings,  with  here 
and  there  neat  houses,  all  or  partly  of  brick.  Each 
house  stood  with  its  cosey  bivalve  door,  shut  at  the 
bottom  to  keep  out  pigs  and  chickens  and  to  keep 
in  the  babes,  and  open  at  the  top  to  admit  light  and 
air.  The  scrupulously  neat  floors  spoke  of  the  hered 
itary  Dutch  virtue  of  cleanliness.  On  the  table  could 
be  seen  a  wealth  of  plain  but  wholesome  food,  such 
as  few  farmer-folk  in  the  old  countries  of  Europe 
could  boast  of.  The  bill  of  fare  would  include  the 
well-cured  hams  for  which  "  the  Dorp  "  was  famous, 
all  kinds  of  savoury  products  of  the  hog,  besides  every 
sort  of  bread,  pie,  cake,  and  plain  pastry,  baked  to  a 
shining  brown  in  the  ample  ovens  of  stone  or  brick, 
which  swelled  like  domes  outside  of  the  houses,  at 
the  rear  of  the  kitchens.  Savoury  and  toothsome  were 
the  rich  "crullers"  which  Captain  Croll,  the  good 
church-elder  and  garrison- commander  of  Rensselaer- 
wyck,  had  invented  during  a  winter-season  of  meat- 
famine.  On  many  a  house  veered  iron  weather 
cocks,  especially  on  the  few  brick  fronts  monogramed 
with  dates  in  anchors  of  iron;  while  on  the  new 
church,  only  four  years  old,  but  the  third  in  the  his- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  15 

tory  of  the  growing  town,  glittered  the  cock  of  Saint 
Nicholas  in  gilt.  It  rested  over  a  belfry  which  held 
a  most  melodious  bell,  cast  at  Amsterdam,  in  dear 
old  "Patria,"  in  the  rim  of  which,  as  well-founded 
tradition  insisted,  many  a  silver  guilder,  spoon,  and 
trinket  had  been  melted.  Perhaps  Johnson,  like 
many  a  European  and  even  New  England  militia 
man,  did  not  understand  why  the  Dutch  built  their 
stone  fortress-like  churches  at  the  intersection  of 
two  streets.  Some  even  hinted  at  stupidity ;  but  the 
Dutchmen,  for  the  same  reason  that  they  loopholed 
the  walls,  so  located  their  chief  public  buildings  at  the 
centre  of  the  village  as  to  be  able  to  sweep  the  cross 
streets  with  their  gun-fire  in  case  of  an  attack  by 
French  or  Indians,  or  both. 

In  Schenectady,  Johnson  would  find  that  many  of 
the  men  were  away  in  the  Indian  country,  with  their 
canoes  and  currency  of  strouds,  duffels,  and  trinkets, 
trading  for  furs.  He  would  soon  learn  that  many 
could  speak  the  Indian  tongue,  some  of  the  younger 
men  and  girls  being  excellent  interpreters ;  while  he 
would  notice  that  wampum- making,  or  "  seewant," 
for  money,  made  by  drilling  and  filing  shells,  was  a 
regular  and  legitimate  industry.  Possibly  the  young 
churchman  may  have  stayed  over  a  Sunday,  and  in 
the  large  stone  edifice,  capable  of  seating  over  six 
hundred  persons,  heard,  if  he  did  not  understand,  the 
learned  Domine  Reinhart  Erichzon  preach.  After 
the  liturgy  and  psalms,  read  by  the  clerk  or  fore- 
reader,  the  domine,  in  gown  and  bands,  ascended  the 
wineglass-shaped  pulpit  to  deliver  his  discourse. 


1 6  SIX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON' 

In  any  event,  whether  Johnson's  stay  was  long  or 
short  in  the  Dorp,  we  should  see  him  making  exit 
through  the  north  gate,  and  either  going  landward 
along  the  Mohawk,  which  is  hardly  possible,  or,  as  is 
more  probable,  loading  his  goods  and  outfit  on  one 
of  the  numerous  canoes  always  ready,  and  rowing  or 
being  rowed  up  the  river.  The  twenty-four  miles  or 
so  of  distance  could  be  easily  covered,  despite  the  rifts 
and  possible  portages,  in  a  single  day.  Evening  would 
find  him,  either  in  camp  on  the  new  estate  or  hos 
pitably  lodged  in  some  log-house  of  the  Dutch  or 
German  settlers.  He  was  now  in  the  heart  of  what 
the  Du*fih  have  been  wont  to  call  the  Woestina,  or 
wilderness,  but  which  was  now  too  much  settled  to 
be  any  longer  so  spoken  of,  —  the  term  beginning  to 
be  then,  as  it  is  now,  restricted  to  a  locality  near 
Schenectady. 

Warren's  Bush,  or  Warren's  Burg,  was  the  name  of 
the  farm  which  the  young  Irishman  was  to  cultivate. 
Warrensburg  was  the  written  name,  but  almost  any 
new  settlement  was  usually  spoken  of  as  "  bush."  It 
lay  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk,  some  distance 
east  of  the  point  where  the  creek,  fed  by  the  western 
slopes  of  the  Catskills,  empties  into  the  river,  and  was 
named  Schoharie,  from  the  great  mass  of  driftwood 
borne  down.  No  more  fertile  valleys  than  these, 
watered  by  the  rain  or  melted  snows  of  the  Catskills 
and  Adirondacks,  exist.  Besides  the  river-flats  that 
were  kept  perennially  fertile  by  nearly  annual  over 
flows  and  a  top  dressing  of  rich  silt,  the  old  maize- 
lands  of  the  Mohawk  were  vast  in  extent,  and  all 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  17 

ready  for  the  plough.  The  region  west  of  Albany 
was  then  spoken  of  by  the  colonists  as  "  the  Mohawk 
country,"  from  the  chief  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  who 
inhabited  it.  Let  us  glance  at  the  human  environ 
ment  of  the  new  settler. 

Besides  a  few  small  houses  of  white  men,  standing 
singly  along  the  river,  there  were  villages  and  fortified 
large  towns  of  the  Mohawks,  called,  in  the  common 
English  term  of  the  period,  "castles."  The  scattered 
lodges  of  the  Indians  were  found  near  most  of  the 
settlements,  such  as  Schenectady,  Caughnawaga,  Stone 
Arabia,  or  Fort  Plain,  and  often  their  cabins  were 
found  inside  the  white  men's  fortifications,  as  in  Fort 
Hunter ;  but  in  the  palisaded  Indian  towns,  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  were  gathered  together.  All  the 
white  settlements  along  the  Mohawk  or  Hudson  were 
near  the  river,  the  uplands  or  clearings  beyond  the 
flats  not  being  considered  of  much  value.  On  the 
Hudson,  besides  Albany,  were  Half  Moon  and  Sara 
toga,  which  latter  stood,  not  over  the  wonderful  ra 
vine  from  which  gushes  the  healing  water  of  the 
mineral  springs,  but  several  miles  to  the  eastward. 
Along  the  Mohawk  were  Schenectady,  Crane's  Village, 
Fort  Hunter,  Warrensburg,  a  hamlet,  Caughnawaga 
(or  Fonda),  Canajoharie,  Palatine,  German  Flats,  and 
Burnet's  Field,  now  called  Herkimer.  Over  in  Cherry 
Valley  were,  later  on,  Scottish  settlers,  and  in  Schd- 
harie  more  Germans. 

Besides  Jellis  Fonda  at  Caughnawaga  (now  Fonda) , 
who  was  a  great  Indian  trader,  and  afterward  major 
of  militia,  Johnson's  most  congenial  neighbour  was  a 


1 8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

fellow  Irishman,  John  Butler.  He  had  come  out 
from  the  old  country  as  a  lieutenant  of  infantry  in 
the  ill-fated  expedition  for  the  reduction  of  Canada 
in  1711  ;  when,  through  stormy  weather  and  the  igno 
rance  of  the  pilots,  the  greater  part  of  the  fleet  under 
Sir  Hovenden  Walker  was  destroyed  in  the  St.  Law 
rence,  and  over  a  thousand  men  drowned.  As  one 
of  the  purchasers,  with  Governor  Cosby  and  others, 
of  a  tract  of  sixty  thousand  acres  of  land,  seven  miles 
from  the  site,  later  called  Johnstown,  in  which  stood 
Johnson  Hall,  Lieutenant  Butler  cultivated  and  im 
proved  his  portion.  To  each  of  his  two  sons,  Walter 
and  John,  he  gave  a  large  farm,  and  both  he  and  his 
sons  were  very  influential  among  the  Indians.  The 
father  served  as  lieutenant,  holding  the  same  rank 
for  seventy  years;  and  the  two  sons  were  afterward 
captains  in  the  Indian  corps,  under  Johnson,  in  the 
Lake  George  campaign.  To  this  family  the  new 
settler,  Johnson,  became  warmly  attached ;  and  the 
friendship  remained  unbroken  until  the  coming  of 
death,  which  the  Arabs  call  the  Severer  of  Friendships. 
This  line  of  settlements  formed  the  frontier  or  line 
of  outposts  of  civilization.  On  every  side  their  front- 
agers  were  the  Iroquois,  or  Indians  of  Five  Nations, 
while  right  among  them  were  the  Mohawks.  Only 
one  English  outpost  faced  Lake  Ontario.  This  was 
the  trading-station  of  Oswego.  Here  in  1722,  the 
daring  governor,  William  Burnet,  aiming  at  the  mo 
nopoly  of  the  fur-trade,  in  defiance  of  the  French, 
and  in  the  face  of  the  Seneca  Indians'  protest,  un 
furled  the  British  flag  for  the  first  time  in  the  region 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  19 

of  the  Great  Lakes.  He  built  the  timber  lodge  at 
his  own  expense,  and  encouraged  bold  young  men, 
mostly  from  Albany  and  the  valley  settlements,  to 
penetrate  to  Niagara  and  beyond.  These  commer 
cial  travellers  —  prototypes  of  the  smart,  well-dressed, 
and  brainy  drummers  of  to-day,  and  in  no  whit  their 
inferiors  in  courage,  address,  and  fertility  of  resource  — 
went  among  the  western  Indians.  They  learned  their 
language,  and  so  opened  the  new  routes  of  trade 
that  within  a  twelvemonth  from  the  unfurling  of  the 
British  flag  at  Oswego  there  were  seen  at  Albany  the 
far-off  lake  tribes  and  even  the  Sioux  of  Dakota. 
Trade  received  such  a  tremendous  stimulus  that  in 
1727  Governor  Burnet  erected  a  regular  fort  at  Os 
wego,  where,  in  1757,  a  French  traveller  found  sixty 
or  seventy  cabins  in  which  fur-traders  lived.  A  prom 
ising  settlement,  begun  by  the  Palatine  Germans  at 
Herkimer,  was  called  Burnet's  Field,  or,  on  the  later 
powder-horn  maps,  Fort  Harkiman. 

The  fur-trade  in  our  day  calls  for  the  slaughter 
annually  of  two  hundred  million  land  quadrupeds ; 
drives  men  to  ravage  land  and  ocean,  and  even  to  rob 
the  water  animals  of  their  skins ;  sends  forty  million 
peltries  annually  to  London  alone,  and  is  still  one  of 
the  great  commercial  activities  of  the  world.  It  was 
relatively  much  greater  in  Johnson's  day ;  and  to  gain 
a  master's  hand  in  it  was  already  his  ambition.  It 
was  the  year  1738,  the  date  of  the  birth  of  George 
III.  of  England,  whom  later  he  was  to  serve  as  his 
sovereign.  Arriving  in  the  nick  of  time,  Johnson  be 
gan  at  once  the  triple  activities  of  settling  his  uncle's 


20  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

acres  with  farmers,  of  opening  a  country  store,  and 
of  clearing  new  land  for  himself.  This  latter  was 
rapidly  accomplished,  Indian  fashion,  by  girdling  the 
trunks  one  year,  thus  quickly  turning  them  into  leaf 
less  timber,  and  planting  either  corn  or  potatoes  the 
next  season,  in  the  now  sunlighted  and  warm  ground. 
Or  the  standing  timber  was  cut  down  and  by  fire 
converted  into  potash,  two  tons  to  the  acre,  which 
was  easily  leached  out,  and  was  quickly  salable  in 
Europe. 

Corn  or  maize  was  the  crop  which  above  all  others 
enabled  the  makers  of  America  to  hold  their  own  and 
live ;  and  corn  was  the  grain  most  plentifully  raised 
in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  though  wheat  was  an  early 
and  steady  crop.  Corn  meal  is  still  sold  in  England 
as  "  Oswego  flour,"  —  a  name  possibly  invented  by 
Johnson,  who  became  a  large  exporter  of  grain  and 
meal. 

To  be  landlord's  agent,  pioneer  settler,  farmer,  and 
storekeeper  all  in  one,  Johnson  needed  assistance  in 
various  ways  and  resolved  to  have  it.  He  had  from 
the  first  come  to  stay  for  life  and  grow  up  with  the 
country.  He  was  probably  in  America  less  than  a 
year  before  he  took  as  his  companion,  Catharine,  the 
daughter  of  a  German  Palatine  settler  named  Weissen- 
burg,  or  Wisenberg.1  Kate  was  the  only  wife  John- 

1  Mr.  E.  F.  De  Lancey,  the  well-known  writer  on  American 
history  and  genealogy,  knew  personally  the  grandchildren  of 
Sir  William  Johnson,  and  has  embodied  valuable  information 
about  him  and  them  in  his  notes  to  Jones's  "  History  of  New 
York  during  the  Revolutionary  War."  In  his  letter  to  the  wri 
ter,  dated  March  28,  1891,  he  kindly  sent  a  transcript  from  a 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  21 

son  ever  had,  and  the  only  woman  with  whom  he 
lived  in  wedlock.  She  is  described  as  a  sweet-tem 
pered  maiden,  robust  in  health,  fairly  dowered  with 
mental  abilities,  and  with  a  good  influence  over  her 
husband.  No  record  of  the  marriage  ceremony  has 
yet  been  found ;  but  the  couple,  if  not  joined  in  wed 
lock  by  some  one  of  the  Dutch  or  German  clergymen 
of  the  Valley,  as  is  most  likely,  had  their  wedding 
before  the  Rev.  Thomas  Barclay,  an  English  Episco 
pal  missionary.  Mr.  Barclay  laboured  at  Fort  Hunter, 
and  in  the  little  English  church  officiated  for  years, 
as  well  as  at  Albany  and  Schenectady ;  but  the  rec 
ords  of  Fort  Hunter  have  not  survived  the  accidents 
of  time.  When  in  1862  the  dust  of  this  maker  of 
America  was  disturbed,  and  his  bones  sealed  up  in 
granite  for  more  honourable  burial,  a  plain  gold  ring 
was  found,  inscribed  on  the  inside,  "June.  1739.  16." 
This  date  may  have  been  that  of  his  marriage  with 
"Lady"  Johnson,  his  own  lawful  wife,  who  probably 
needed  no  title  to  adorn  the  beautiful  character  which 
tradition  bestows  upon  her.  Johnson,  when  a  bar 
onet  with  laurelled  brow,  and  a  fame  established  on 
two  continents ;  the  head  of  a  family  in  which  were 

letter  in  Mrs.  Bowes's  own  handwriting  — "  Information  my 
father  gave  me  when  with  him.  Catharine  Wisenberg,  a  na 
tive  of  Germany,  married  to  Sir  W,  Johnson,  Bar't  in  the  U. 
States  of  America,  died  in  1759."  Mrs.  Bowes  was  a  daughter 
of  Sir  John  Johnson,  who  was  a  son  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 
it  is  probable  that  the  spelling  Wisenberg  is  only  the  phonetic 
form  of  Weissenburg.  The  local  gossip  and  groundless  tra 
ditions,  like  those  set  down  by  J.  R.  Simms,  are  in  all  proba 
bility  worthless. 


22  SSK    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

two  baronetcies,  father  and  son,  —  an  honour  unpar 
alleled  in  American  colonial  history,  —  made  a  will, 
preserved  in  Albany,  in  which  he  desired  the  remains 
of  his  "  beloved  wife  Catharine  "  interred  beside  him. 
Of  Molly  Brant,  his  later  mistress,  he  spoke  and 
wrote  as  his  housekeeper;  of  the  Palatine  German 
lawfully  wedded  to  him,  as  his  beloved  wife, 

Doubtless,  also,  for  the  first  years  of  married  life, 
through  her  exemption  from  family  cares,  though 
these  weighed  lightly  in  early  colonial  days,  in  the 
absence  of  the  artificial  life  of  the  cities,  she  was 
enabled  to  attend  to  the  store,  while  her  husband 
worked  in  the  field,  rode  with  grist  to  the  mill,  or 
traded  with  the  Indians  in  their  villages.  Their  first 
child,  John,  was  not  born  until  they  had  crossed  the 
Mohawk  River,  and  occupied  Mount  Johnson,  in 
1742. 

We  can  easily  sum  up  the  inventory  of  a  country 
store  on  the  frontier  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  whose  chief  customers  were  farmers,  trappers, 
bos-lopers  or  wood-runners,  hunters,  and  Indians.  On 
the  shelves  would  be  arranged  the  thick,  warm,  woollen 
cloth  called  "  duffel,"  which  made  "  as  warm  a  coat  as 
man  can  sell,"  and  the  coarse  shoddy-like  stuff  named 
"  strouds  ;  "  in  the  bins,  powder,  shot,  bullets,  lead,  gun- 
flints,  steel  traps,  powder-horns,  rum,  brandy,  beads, 
mirrors,  and  trinkets  for  the  Indians,  fish  hooks  and 
lines,  rackets  or  snow-shoes,  groceries,  hardware,  some 
of  the  commonest  drugs,  and  building  articles. 

In  trading,  a  coin  was  rare.  The  money  used  was 
seewant,  or  wampum,  but  most  of  the  business  done 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS,  23 

was  by  barter ;  peltries,  corn,  venison,  ginseng,  roots, 
herbs,  brooms,  etc.,  being  the  red  man's  stock  in 
trade.  The  white  settlers  paid  for  their  groceries  'and 
necessities  of  civilization  in  seewant,  or  wampum,  pot 
ash,  and  cereals.  One  of  the  earliest  in  the  collection 
of  Johnson's  papers  at  Albany  is  a  letter  to  "  Dear 
Billy  "  from  Captain  Warren  at  Boston,  suggesting  a 
shipment  in  the  spring,  from  the  farm  at  Warrens- 
burg,  of  grain  and  other  produce  to  Boston  by  way 
of  Albany. 

Being  of  robust  health,  with  a  strong  frame  and 
commanding  figure,  jovial  in  disposition  and  easy  in 
manners,  Johnson  was  not  only  able  to  show  habitual 
industry,  but  in  the  field-sports  and  athletic  games  to 
take  part  and  make  himself  popular  alike  with  the 
muscular  young  Dutch  and  Germans  and  with  the 
more  lithe  red  men.  The  famous  castle  or  palisaded 
village  of  the  Mohawks  on  the  hill-slopes  back  of 
Auriesville,  now  visible  to  all  passengers  by  railway, 
and  marked  by  the  shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Martyrs, 
was  but  a  short  distance  to  the  westward.  Here 
Johnson  soon  became  known  as  a  friend  as  well  as 
an  honest  trader.  His  simple  and  masterly  plan  was, 
never  to  lie,  cheat,  or  deceive,  and  never  to  grant 
what  he  had  once  refused.  To  the  red  men  much 
of  a  white  man's  thinking  was  a  mystery;  but  truth 
was  always  simple,  and  as  heartily  appreciated  as  it 
was  easily  understood. 

As  early  as  May  10,  1739,  we  find  this  man  of 
restless  activity  planning  to  locate  a  branch  trading- 
house  on  the  Susquehanna,  two  hundred  miles  to  the 


24  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

south.  Already  he  had  seen  the  advantages  and 
prospect  of  speedy  wealth  in  the  fur-trade,  a  privi 
lege  won  years  before  by  his  Schenectady  neighbours. 
He  now  entered  diligently  into  it,  employing  a  num 
ber  of  runners  or  bos-lopers,  who  scoured  the  woods 
and  valleys  populated  with  Indians,  in  his  interest, 
diverting  the  trade  from  Albany  to  his  own  post. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  jealous  quarrels  between 
him  and  the  Albanians.  That  his  eye  was  keenly 
open  to  every  new  advantage  or  possibility  of  pro 
gress,  was  seen  in  his  buying  as  early  as  1739,  after 
one  year's  residence  in  the  valley,  a  lot  of  land  across 
the  Mohawk,  on  which  ran  a  stream  of  water,  the 
Chucktununda  Creek,  with  abundance  of  potential 
mill-power.  To  ride  horseback  with  bags  fifteen 
miles  to  Caughnawaga  every  time  meal  was  needed, 
was  too  much  loss  of  time  and  energy.  The  German 
women  had  long  carried  bags  of  wheat  and  maize 
from  Schoharie  to  Schenectady,  traversing  the  dis 
tance  on  foot,  bearing  corn  in  coming  and  grist  in 
returning,  on  their  backs.  There  was  a  mill  at  Caugh 
nawaga,  and  one  owned  by  the  Dutch  Church  at 
Schenectady,  both  sufficiently  distant.  Johnson  saw 
at  once  in  a  mill  ease  and  revenue.  The  Indian 
name  of  the  stream,  Chucktununda,  is  said  to  mean 
"  stone  roofs  or  houses,"  and  was  applied  to  other  water 
courses  with  banks  of  overhanging  rocks  which  formed 
shelter  during  rain.  This  coveted  spot  became  later 
the  famous  "Mount"  Johnson,  on  which  the  stone 
fortress- mansion  still  stands,  at  Akin,  three  miles 
west  of  Amsterdam  and  visible  to  all  railway  travel- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  25 

lers  as  they  fly  between  the  great  Lake  City  and  New 
York. 

The  appearance  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  though  still 
unchanged  in  its  great  cosmic  features  of  sky,  moun 
tain,  and  main  watercourses,  was  vastly  different  a  cen 
tury  and  a  half  ago.  On  its  surface  were  many  minor 
features  quite  different  from  those  which  to-day  greet 
the  eye  of  traveller,  denizen,  or  palace-car  inmate. 
Then  the  primeval  forest,  rich  in  game,  covered  hill 
and  dale,  except  along  the  river-flats,  where  were 
great  -expanses  of  meadow  in  the  wide  level  of  the 
valley.  Here  were  maize-fields  surrounding  the  In 
dian  villages  for  miles. 

Owing,  however,  to  the  largeness  of  forest  area,  the 
streams  were  of  greater  proportions  and  much  more 
numerous  than  at  present.  Fish  were  vastly  abun 
dant,  and  so  tame  as  to  be  easily  caught,  even  with 
the  hand  of  Indian  or  white  skilled  in  wood  and 
water  craft.  Animal  life  was  rich  and  varied  to  a  de 
gree  not  now  easily  imaginable  or  even  credible,  did 
not  the  records  of  geology,  of  contemporary  chroni 
cles,  and  the  voices  of  tradition  all  agree  on  this  point. 
Then  the  "wild  cow  "  or  bison,  though  rapidly  dim 
inishing,  owing  to  the  introduction  of  fire-arms,  was 
still  a  source  of  fur  and  food.  Besides  the  elk,  deer 
were  plentiful  on  the  hills,  often  seen  drinking  at 
night  and  early  in  the  morning  at  the  river's  brink, 
and  occasionally  were  killed  inside  of  the  new  settle 
ments.  A  splendid  specimen  of  elk  horns  from  a 
buck  shot  by  Johnson  on  his  own  grounds,  was  pre 
sented  by  him  to  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Jones,  who 


26  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

wrote  a  loyalist  history  of  New  York  during  the  Revo 
lutionary  War,  and  long  adorned  the  hall  of  Fort 
Neck  mansion  on  Long  Island.  Smaller  fur-bearing 
animals  were  beyond  the  power  of  arithmetic.  Wolves 
were  uncomfortably  numerous,  active,  and  noisy.  To 
their  ceaseless  nocturnal  music  there  were  slight 
pauses  of  silence,  except  when  some  gory  battle-field 
or  scalping-party's  raid  or  unusual  spoil  of  hunters 
became  the  storm-centre,  and  gathered  them  together 
from  a  radius  of  many  miles.  Most  notable  of  all  the 
animals,  in  physical  geography,  in  commerce,  and 
for  clothing,  was  the  beaver.  This  amphibious  crea 
ture  of  architectural  instincts  was  the  great  modifier 
of  the  earth's  surface,  damming  up  tens  of  thousands 
of  the  hill  streams  which  fed  the  great  rivers,  and  thus 
causing  a  vast  surface  of  the  land,  otherwise  dry,  to 
be  covered  with  water,  while  it  greatly  changed  the 
appearance  of  the  landscape.  There  are  to-day  thou 
sands  of  grassy  and  mossy  dells  which  even  the  inex 
perienced  eye  sees  were  once  the  homes  of  the  beavers, 
while  thousands  of  others  have  long  since,  under  the 
open  sun,  become  fertile  meadows.  The  beaver,  by 
yielding  the  most  valuable  of  the  furs,  furnished  also 
the  standard  of  value  in  trade.  The  beaver  as  seen 
on  the  seal  of  the  city  of  York,  like  the  prehistoric 
pecus,  or  cattle,  which  made  pecuniary  value,  or  the 
salt  of  the  ancient  safary  or  rice  in  old  Japan,  was 
quoted  oftener  than  coin. 

The  Indian  trails  of  New  York  were  first  obliterated 
by  wagon-roads  or  metaled  turnpikes,  and  then  cov 
ered  by  iron  rails  and  wooden  ties.  The  flanged  iron 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  27 

wheels  have  taken  the  place  of  the  moccasin,  as  loco- 
motor  and  freight- carrier ;  but  in  Johnson's  time  the 
valleys,  passes,  and  portages  or  "  carries "  were  all 
definitely  marked,  and  generally  easily  visible,  on  ac 
count  of  the  long  tramping  of  inturned  feet.  There 
are  places  to-day  on  the  flinty  rock  polished  by  long 
attrition  of  deer-leather  soles ;  and  wherever  the  nat 
ural  features  of  the  landscape  point  to  the  probable  sav 
ing  of  linear  space,  there  skilled  search  usually  reveals 
the  old  trail.  One  of  the  first  proofs  of  the  genius  of 
Johnson  and  the  entrance  in  his  mind  of  continental 
ideas  was  his  thorough  study  of  the  natural  highways, 
trails,  and  watercourses  of  the  Iroquois  empire,  and 
the  times  and  methods  of  their  punctual  migrations. 
He  soon  found  that  while  late  autumn,  winter,  and 
spring  was  their  season  for  trapping  and  shooting 
their  game,  June,  July,  and  August  formed  the  period 
when  the  peltries  were  brought  in  for  sale.  In  early 
autumn  they  went  fishing,  or  their  travelling-parties 
were  on  peaceful  errands,  such  as  attending  those 
council-fires  which  filled  all  the  atmosphere  with 
blue  haze.  As  a  rule,  the  Indians  avoided  the 
mountains,  and  dwelt  in  the  valleys  and  well- watered 
regions,  where  fish  and  game  for  food,  osiers  and 
wood  fibres  for  their  baskets,  clay  for  their  rude  pot 
tery  abounded,  and  where  pebbles  of  every  degree  of 
hardness  were  at  hand,  to  be  split,  clipped,  drilled, 
grooved,  or  polished  for  their  implements  of  war, 
ceremony,  and  religion.  In  savage  life,  vast  areas 
of  the  earth's  surface  are  necessary  for  his  hunt 
ing  and  nomad  habits.  Agriculture  and  civilization, 


28  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

which  mean  the  tilling  and  dressing  of  the  earth, 
enable  a  tribe  to  make  a  few  acres  of  fertile  soil  suf 
fice,  where  one  lone  hunter  could  scarcely  exist. 
The  constant  trenching  upon  the  land  of  the  wild 
hunter  and  fisherman,  by  the  farmer  and  manufac 
turer,  who  utilize  the  forces  of  Nature,  and  the  resist 
ance  of  the  savage  to  this  process,  make  the  story  of 
the  "  Indian  question." 

Apart  from  the  pretext  of  religion,  equally  common 
to  all,  the  main  object  of  French,  Dutch,  and  English 
traders  was  fur,  as  that  of  the  New  England  coast 
men  was  fish.  The  tremendous  demand  of  Europe 
and  China  kept  the  prices  of  peltries  high,  and  it  was 
in  this  line  of  commercial  effort  that  fortunes  were 
most  quickly  made,  most  of  the  early  profits  being 
reckoned  at  twenty  times  the  amount  of  outlay.  Until 
1630  a  strict  monopoly  of  two  trading-companies  shut 
out  all  interlopers  from  the  Indian  country. 

In  1639,  at  the  foundation  of  Rensselaerwyck,  trade 
was  nominally  thrown  open  to  all.  What  was  formerly 
done  covertly  by  interlopers  and  servants  of  the  com 
pany,  became  the  privileges  of  every  burgher.  Though 
still  rigidly  denied  to  outsiders,  traders'  shops  soon 
sprung  up  along  the  muddy  streets  of  the  colony,  and 
an  immense  business  was  done  over  the  greasy  coun 
ters.  The  gallon  kegs  of  brandy,  called  ankers;  a 
puncheon  of  beer ;  a  pile  of  shaggy  woollen  stuffs,  then 
called  duffles,  and  now  represented  most  nearly  by 
Ulster  or  overcoat  cloth ;  a  still  coarser  fabric  called 
strouds,  for  breech  clouts  and  squaws'  clothes,  with 
axes  and  beads,  formed  the  staple  of  the  cheaper 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS  29 

order  of  shopkeepers.  In  the  better  class  of  dealers 
in  "  Indian  haberdashery,"  and  in  peltries,  potash, 
and  ginseng,  the  storehouses  would  have  an  immense 
array  of  all  sorts  of  clothes,  hats  and  shoes,  guns, 
knives,  axes,  powder,  lead,  glass  beads,  bar  and  hoop 
iron  for  arrow-heads,  and  files  to  make  them,  red  lead, 
molasses,  sugar,  oil,  pottery,  pans,  kettles,  hollow  ware, 
pipes,  and  knick-knacks  of  all  sorts.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  desire  to  forestall  the  markets  entered 
the  hearts  of  the  Dutch  as  well  as  the  French;  and 
soon,  matching  the  courier  du  dots,  or  hardy  rangers 
of  the  Canadian  forests,  emerged  the  corresponding 
figure  of  the  bos-lopers,  or  commercial  drummers. 
This  prototype  of  the  present  natty  and  wide-awake 
metropolitan,  in  finest  clothes,  hat,  and  gloves,  with 
most  engaging  manners  and  invincible  tongue,  was  a 
hardy  athlete  in  his  prime,  able  to  move  swiftly  and 
to  be  ever  alert.  He  was  well  versed  in  the  human 
nature  of  his  customers.  Skilled  in  woodcraft,  he 
knew  the  trails,  the  position  of  the  Indian  villages, 
the  state  of  the  tides,  currents,  the  news  of  war  and 
peace,  could  read  the  weather  signs,  the  probabilities 
of  the  hair  and  skin  crops,  the  fluctuations  of  the 
market,  and  was  usually  ready  to  advance  himself  by 
fair  advantage,  or  otherwise,  over  his  white  employer 
or  Indian  producer.  Rarely  was  he  an  outlaw,  though 
usually  impatient  of  restraint,  and  when  in  the  towns, 
apt  to  patronize  too  liberally  the  liquor-seller. 

In  this  way  the  market  was  forestalled,  and  the 
choicest  skins  secured  by  the  Albany  men,  who  knew 
how  to  select  and  employ  the  best  drummers.  So 


30  67^    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

fascinating  and  profitable  was  this  life  in  the  woods, 
that  agriculture  was  at  first  neglected,  and  bread  stuffs 
were  imported.  The  evil  of  the  abandonment  of  indus 
try,  however,  never  reached  the  proportions  notorious 
in  Canada,  where  it  sometimes  happened  that  ten 
per  cent  of  the  whole  population  would  disappear  in 
the  woods,  and  the  crops  be  neglected.  When,  too, 
Schenectady,  Esopus,  and  the  Palatine  settlements 
in  the  Mohawk  Valley  were  fully  established,  the  far 
mers  multiplied,  the  acreage  increased,  and  grain  was 
no  longer  imported.  It  was,  from  the  first,  the  hope 
and  desire  of  the  Schenectady  settlers  to  break  the 
Albany  monopoly,  and  obtain  a  share  of  the  lucrative 
trade.  This  was  bitterly  opposed  for  half  a  century, 
and  many  were  the  inquisitorial  visits  of  the  Albany 
sheriffs  to  Schenectady  and  the  Valley  settlements,  to 
seize  contraband  goods ;  but  usually,  on  account  of 
the  steady  resistance  of  both  magistrates  and  citizens, 
they  who  came  for  wool  went  home  shorn.  The  fool 
ish  Governor  Andros  went  so  far  as  to  lay  upon  the 
little  village  an  embargo,  —  one  of  the  silly  precedents 
of  the  "  Boston  Port  Bill,"  —  by  a  most  extraordinary 
proclamation  forbidding  any  wagons  and  carts  to  ply 
between  the  city  of  Albany  and  the  Dorp  of  Schenec 
tady,  except  upon  extraordinary  occasions ;  and  only 
with  the  consent  of  the  Albany  magistrates  could 
passengers  or  goods  be  carried  to  the  defiant  little 
Dutch  town.  All  such  official  nonsense  ultimately 
proved  vain,  and  its  silliness  became  patent  even 
to  the  Albany  monopolists  ;  and  Schenectady  won  the 
victory  of  free  trade  with  the  Indians. 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  31 

This  point  of  time  was  shortly  after  the  coming  of 
Johnson,  who  thus  arrived  at  a  lucky  moment ;  and 
at  once  entering  to  reap  where  others  had  sown,  he 
became  a  man  of  the  new  era.  He  found  the  situ 
ation  free  for  his  enterprise,  which  soon  became  ap 
parently  boundless.  He  cultivated  the  friendship  not 
only  of  the  Indians,  but  of  the  white  wood-runners, 
trappers,  and  frontiersmen  generally ;  and  by  his  easy 
manners,  generosity,  and  strict  integrity,  bound  both  the 
red  and  the  white  men  to  himself.  He  was  a  "  hail- 
fellow-well-met  "  to  this  intelligent  class  of  men,  and 
all  through  his  wonderful  career  found  in  them  a  tre 
mendous  and  unfailing  resource  of  power.  Johnson 
laid  the  foundations  of  permanent  success,  deep  and 
broad,  by  the  simple  virtues  of  truth  and  honesty. 
He  disdained  the  meanness  of  the  petty  trader.  His 
word  was  kept,  whether  promise  or  threat.  He  re 
fused  to  gain  a  temporary  advantage  by  a  sacrifice  of 
principle,  and  soon  the  poorest  and  humblest  learned 
to  trust  him.  His  word,  even  as  a  young  man,  soon 
became  bond  and  law.  The  Indians,  who  were  never 
able  to  fathom  diplomacy,  could  understand  simple 
truth.  Two  of  the  most  significant  gestures  in  the 
sign  language  of  the  Indians  are,  when  the  index  fin 
ger  is  laid  upon  the  mouth  and  moved  straight  for 
ward,  as  the  symbol  of  verity ;  and  the  same  initial 
gesture  expresses  with  sinuosities,  as  of  a  writhing 
serpent,  symbolical  of  double  dealing,  prevarication 
or  falsehood.  The  tongue  of  the  truth-speaker  was 
thus  shown  to  be  as  straight  as  an  arrow,  while  that 
of  the  liar  was  like  a  worm,  or  the  crooked  slime-line 


32  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

of  a  serpent.  In  this  simple,  effective  way  Johnson's 
business  enlarged  like  his  land  domains  from  year  to 
year,  while  on  knowledge  of  the  Indians  and  their 
language,  and  of  the  physical  features  of  the  Mohawks' 
empire,  he  soon  became  an  authority.  As  early  as 
1743  he  succeeded  in  opening  a  direct  avenue  of 
trade  with  Oswego,  doing  a  good  business  not  only  in 
furs,  but  in  supplying  with  provisions  and  other  neces 
saries  both  the  white  trappers  and  petty  traders  who 
made  rendezvous  at  the  fort.  He  was  now  well 
known  in  Albany  and  New  York,  and  soon  opened 
correspondence  with  the  wealthy  house  of  Sir  William 
Baker  &  Co.,  of  London,  as  well  as  with  firms  in 
Atlantic  seaports  and  the  West  Indies. 

He  prepared  for  a  wider  sphere  of  influence  by  im 
proving  his  land  north  of  the  Mohawk  River.  He 
began  the  erection  on  it  of  a  strong  and  roomy  stone 
house,  —  one  of  the  very  few  edifices  made  of  cut  stone 
then  in  the  State,  and  probably  the  only  one  west  of  the 
Hudson  River.  This  house  is  still  standing,  and  kept 
in  excellent  repair  by  its  owner  and  occupant,  Mr. 
Ethan  Akin.  It  is  two  and  a  half  stories  high  ;  its  di 
mensions  are  64  by  34  feet ;  the  walls,  from  foundation 
to  garret,  are  two  feet  thick.  There  is  not  to-day  a  flaw 
in  them,  nor  has  there  ever  been  a  crack.  The  roof, 
now  of  slate  and  previously  of  shingles,  was  at  first  of 
lead,  which  was  used  for  bullets  during  the  Revolu 
tionary  War.  Part  of  the  house  seems  to  have  been 
sufficiently  finished  for  occupancy  by  the  summer  of 
1742,  for  here,  on  the  5th  of  November,  his  son  John 
was  born.  Around  the  house  he  planted  a  circle  of 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  33 

locust-trees,  two  or  three  of  which  still  remain.  His 
grist-mill  stood  on  Chucktununda  Creek,  which  flowed 
through  his  grounds ;  and  near  it  was  the  miller's 
house.  This  branch  of  his  business  —  flour  manufac 
ture — was  so  soon  developed  that  cooperage  was  stim 
ulated,  and  shipments  of  Johnson's  Mohawk  Valley 
flour  were  made  to  the  West  Indies  and  to  Nova 
Scotia.  Grand  as  his  stone  dwelling  was,  a  very  pa- 
troon's  mansion,  —  and  it  is  probable  that  one  of 
Johnson's  purposes  in  rearing  what  was  then  so  splen 
did  a  mansion  was  to  impress  favourably  the  Indians, 
—  he  became  none  the  less,  but  even  more,  their 
familiar  and  friend.  He  joined  in  their  sports,  at 
tended  their  councils,  entertained  the  chiefs  at  his 
board,  feasted  the  warriors  and  people  in  his  fields, 
and  on  occasions  put  on  Indian  costume.  In  sum 
mer  this  would  mean  plenty  of  dress  and  liberal 
painting,  but  in  winter,  abundance  of  buckskin,  a  war- 
bonnet  of  vast  proportions,  and  a  duffel  blanket.  Yet 
all  this  was  done  as  a  private  individual  and  a  mer 
chant,  having  an  eye  to  the  main  chance.  He  as  yet 
occupied  no  official  position.  His  domestic  life  in 
these  early  days  at  the  Mohawk  Valley  must  have 
been  very  happy;  and  here  were  born,  evidently  in 
quick  succession  and  probably  before  the  year  1745, 
by  which  time  the  stone  house  was  finished,  his  two 
daughters,  Mary  and  Nancy.  About  sixty  yards  north 
of  the  mansion  was  a  hill  on  which  a  guard- house 
stood,  with  a  look-out  ever  on  the  watch.  On  ac 
count  of  this  hill  the  place  was  often  spoken  of  as 
"  Mount  "  Johnson.  In  time  of  danger  a  garrison 
3 


34  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

of  twenty  or  thirty  men  occupied  this  point  of  wide 
view. 

Despite  his  many  cares,  Johnson  enjoyed  reading 
and  the  study  of  science.  He  ordered  books  and 
periodical  literature  regularly  from  London.  His  sci 
entific  taste  was  especially  strong  in  astronomy.  To 
the  glorious  canopy  of  stars,  which  on  winter  nights 
make  the  mountain-walled  valley  a  roofed  palace  of 
celestial  wonders,  Johnson's  eyes  were  directed  when 
ever  fair  weather  made  their  splendours  visible.  In 
autumn  the  brilliant  tints  of  the  sumach,  dogwood, 
swamp-maple,  sassafras,  red  and  white  oak,  and  the 
various  trees  of  the  order  of  Sapindacece  filled  the 
hills  and  lowlands  with  a  glory  never  seen  in  Europe. 
His  botanical  tastes  could  be  enjoyably  cultivated,  for 
in  orchids,  ferns,  flowering  plants,  and  wonders  of  the 
vegetable  world,  few  parts  of  North  America  are 
richer  than  the  Mohawk  Valley. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  35 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   SIX   NATIONS   AND   THE   LONG   HOUSE. 

THE  military  nerves  of  the  continent  of  North 
America  lie  in  the  water-ways  bounding,  traversing, 
or  issuing  from  the  State  of  New  York.  Its  heart  is 
the  region  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Niagara. 
In  these  days  of  steam-traction,  when  transit  is 
made  at  right  angles  to  the  rivers,  and  thus  directly 
across  the  great  natural  channels  of  transportation, 
New  York  may  be  less  the  Empire  State  than  in  the 
days  of  canoes  and  bateaux.  Yet  even  now  its 
strategic  importance  is  at  once  apparent.  In  the  old 
days  of  conflict,  first  between  the  forces  of  Latin  and 
Teutonic  civilization,  and  later  between  British  king 
craft  and  American  democracy,  it  was  the  ground 
chosen  for  struggle  and  decision. 

Before  the  European  set  foot  on  the  American 
continent,  the  leading  body  of  native  savages  had  dis 
covered  the  main  features  of  this  great  natural  for 
tress  and  place  of  eminent  domain.  Inventors  of  the 
birch-bark  canoe,  the  red  man  saw  that  from  this 
centre  all  waters  of  the  inland  ocean  made  by  the 
great  lakes,  the  warm  gulf,  and  the  salt  sea,  could  be 
easily  reached.  With  short  land-portages,  during 
which  the  canoe,  which  served  as  shelter  and  roof  at 


36  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

night  and  house  and  vehicle  by  day,  could  be  car 
ried  on  the  shoulders,  the  Indian  could  paddle  his 
way  to  Dakota,  to  Newfoundland,  or  to  Hudson's  Bay 
on  the  north,  or  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south.  In  his  moc 
casins  he  could  travel  as  far.  From  New  York  State 
the  pedestrian  can  go  into  twenty  States  and  into 
two  thirds  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  with 
out  leaving  the  courses  of  valleys.  No  other  State 
can  so  communicate  between  the  east  and  the  west 
without  overcoming  one  or  more  mountain  ridges. 
The  T-shaped  Hudson-Mohawk  groove  in  the  earth's 
crust  unites  the  valleys  east  of  Massachusetts.  With 
such  geographical  advantages,  added  to  native  abili 
ties,  the  Iroquois  were  able  to  make  themselves  the 
virtual  masters  of  the  continent  of  North  America. 

Here,  accordingly,  was  built  the  Long  House ;  that 
is,  was  organized  the  federation  of  the  Five  Nations. 
Like  the  Pharaohs,  Sultans,  Mikados,  and  European 
princes  of  the  world  which  we  call  old,  because 
of  its  long  written  history,  these  forest  sovereigns 
named  their  government  after  their  house.  The 
common  edifice  of  the  Iroquois  was  a  bark  structure 
fifty  or  more  feet  long,  and  from  twelve  to  twenty 
feet  wide,  with  doors  at  either  end.  In  each  dwelling 
lived  several  families. 

So  also,  in  the  Great  Long  House,  stretching  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  Niagara,  dwelt  at  first  five  families. 
The  Mohawks  occupied  the  room  at  the  eastern  end 
of  the  house,  in  the  throat  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  the 
schenectady,  or  "place  just  outside  the  door,"  being 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  37 

on  the  "  mountain-dividing  ''  or  Hudson  River.  More 
exactly,  the  place  of  "  Ye  treaties  of  Schenectady  "  was 
at  the  mouth  of  Norman's  Kill,  a  little  south  of  Albany. 
Here  was  the  place  of  many  ancestral  graves,  where 
multitudes  of  the  dead  lay,  and  where  Hiawatha,  their 
great  civilizer,  dwelt. 

Of  all  the  tribes  the  Mohawks  were,  or  at  least 
in  England  and  the  colonies  were  believed  to  be,  the 
fiercest  warriors.  It  was  after  them  that  the  roughs 
in  London  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
were  named,  and  the  term  was  long  used  as  a  syn 
onym  with  ferocious  men.  The  tea-destroyers  in 
Boston  Harbor  in  1774  also  took  this  name.  Next 
westward  were  the  Oneidas,  inhabiting  the  region 
from  Little  Falls  to  Oneida  Lake.  The  Onondagas 
at  the  centre  of  the  Long  House,  in  the  region  be 
tween  the  Susquehanna  and  the  eastern  end  of  Lake 
Ontario,  had  the  fireplace  or  centre  of  the  confed 
eracy.  The  Cayugas  lived  between  the  lake  named 
after  them  and  the  Genesee  Valley.  The  Senecas 
occupied  the  country  between  Rochester  and  Niagara. 
The  evidence  left  by  the  chips  on  the  floors  of  their 
workshops,  show  that  their  most  ancient  habitations 
were  on  the  river-flats  and  at  the  edges  of  streams. 
Later,  as  game  became  scarcer,  they  occupied  the 
hills  and  ledges  farther  back.  On  these  points  of 
vantage  their  still  later  elaborate  fortifications  of  wood 
were  built.  As  the  rocks  of  New  York  make  the  Old 
Testament  of  geology,  so  the  river-strands  and  the 
quarries  are  the  most  ancient  chronicles  of  unwritten 
history,  in  times  of  war  and  peace. 


3 8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

How  long  the  tribes  of  the  Long  House  lived  to 
gether  under  the  forms  of  a  federated  republic,  experts 
are  unable  to  tell.  It  is  believed  that  they  were  origi 
nally  one  large  Dakota  tribe,  which  became  separated 
by  overgrowth  and  dissensions,  and  later  united,  not 
as  a  unity,  but  as  a  confederation.  The  work  of  Dr. 
Cadwallader  Golden,  who  in  1727  published  his  "  His 
tory  of  the  Five  Nations,"  has  been  too  much  relied 
upon  by  American  and  English  writers.  It  was  one  of 
the  very  first  works  in  English  on  local  history  pub 
lished  in  the  province  of  New  York.  Utterly  ignoring 
the  excellent  writing  of  the  Dutch  scholars,  Domine 
Megapolensis,  De  Vries,  and  the  lawyer,  Van  der 
Donck,  who  wrote  as  men  familiar  with  their  subject 
at  first  hand ;  ignoring  also  the  personal  work  of 
Arendt  Van  Curler,  —  Golden  compiled  most  of  his 
historic  matter  from  French  authors. 

According  to  the  tradition  of  the  Algonkin  In 
dians  of  Canada,  which  Golden  gives  at  length,  the 
Iroquois  were  at  first  mainly  occupied  in  agriculture, 
and  the  Algonkins  in  hunting.  The  various  wars  had 
developed  in  the  Iroquois  the  spirit  of  war  and  great 
powers  of  resistance,  so  that  they  held  their  own 
against  their  enemies.  Another  of  the  many  bloody 
campaigns  was  to  open  on  the  shores  of  the  lake 
named  after  Champlain,  when  Europeans  appeared 
on  the  scene,  and  trustworthy  history  begins.  Cham- 
plain,  it  seems,  did  not  desire  to  join  in  the  Indian 
feuds,  but  was  compelled  to  do  so  in  order  to  retain 
the  friendship  of  the  Hurons.  This  first  use  of  fire 
arms  in  Indian  warfare  meant  nothing  less  than  revo- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  39 

ution  in  politics,  in  methods  of  war,  in  the  influence 
of  chiefs,  and  in  other  elements  of  Indian  civilization. 
What  gunpowder  began,  alcohol  completed. 

This  much  seems  certain,  that  at  the  opening  of 
the  seventeenth  century  the  whole  continent  was  a 
dark  and  bloody  ground,  in  which  war  was  the  rule 
and  peace  the  exception ;  in  which  man  hunted  man 
as  the  beasts  and  fishes  destroy  and  devour  one  an 
other.  The  Iroquois,  speaking  substantially  one  lan 
guage,  were  as  an  island  in  a  great  Algonkin  ocean. 
Unlike  mere  fishermen  and  hunters  they  were  agricul 
turists,  and  many  hundred  square  miles  were  planted 
with  their  maize,  squashes,  pumpkins,  beans,  tobacco, 
and  other  vegetables,  edible  or  useful.  They  were 
able  to  store  up  corn  for  long  campaigns  and  to  brave 
a  season  of  famine.  The  streams  furnished  them  with 
fish,  and  they  hunted  the  deer,  elk,  bison,  and  smaller 
animals  for  flesh  or  furs ;  but  their  noblest  game  was 
man.  To  kill,  to  scalp,  to  save  alive  for  torture,  to 
burn  his  villages  and  houses,  to  wreak  vengeance  on 
his  enemies,  was  rapture  to  the  savage. 

Before  they  knew  gunpowder,  the  Iroquois,  equipped 
with  flint  weapons  and  clothed  in  bark  armour,  often 
fought  in  the  open  field  and  with  comparative  personal 
exposure.  Their  battles  were  by  masses  of  men  who 
were  led  by  chiefs,  and  their  tactics  and  strategy  re 
sembled  those  of  white  men  before  the  introduction  of 
fire-arms.  One  famous  field  in  the  open  ground  near 
Schenectady  was  long  pointed  out  in  Indian  tradition 
as  the  place  where  the  great  battle  between  the  Iro 
quois  and  the  Algonkins  had  been  fought  before  the 


40  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

coming  of  the  whites.  For  the  defence  of  their  vil 
lages  they  built  palisades  with  galleries  for  the  defend 
ers  to  stand  on,  and  with  appliances  at  hand  to  put 
out  fires,  or  to  repel  assaults  and  drive  off  besiegers. 
Theirs  was  the  age  of  stone  and  wood  ;  but  their  civili 
zation  was  based  on  agriculture,  which  made  them 
superior  to  that  of  their  neighbours,  whom  they  had 
compelled  to  be  tributary  vassals. 

The  apparition  of  the  white  man  and  the  flash  of 
Champlain's  arquebus,  vomiting  fire  and  dealing  death 
by  invisible  balls,  changed  all  Indian  warfare  and  civi 
lization.  Gunpowder  wrought  as  profound  a  revolu 
tion  in  the  forests  of  America  as  in  Europe.  Bark  or 
hide  shields  and  armour  were  discarded  ;  bows  and  ar 
rows  were  soon  left  to  children ;  the  line  and  order  of 
battle  changed ;  fighting  in  masses  ceased ;  the  per 
sonal  influence  of  the  chiefs  decreased,  and  each 
warrior  became  his  own  general.  Individual  valour 
and  physical  strength  and  bravery  in  battle  counted 
for  much  less,  and  the  dwarf  was  now  equal  to  the 
giant. 

An  equally  great  revolution  in  industry  took  place 
when  the  stone  age  was  suddenly  brought  to  a  close 
and  the  age  of  metals  ushered  in.  The  iron  pot  and 
kettle,  the  steel  knife,  hoe,  hatchet,  and  the  various 
appliances  of  daily  life  made  more  effective  and  dura 
ble,  almost  at  once  destroyed  the  manufacture  of  stone 
and  bone  utensils.  The  old.  men  lost  their  occupa 
tion,  and  the  young  men  ceased  to  be  pupils.  This 
loss  of  skill  and  power  was  tremendous  and  far-reach 
ing  in  its  consequences ;  and  its  very  suddenness  trans- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  41 

formed  independent  savages  into  dependents  upon 
the  white  man.  In  time  of  famine  or  loss  of  trade, 
or  interruption  of  their  relations  with  the  traders 
caused  by  political  complications,  the  sufferings  of 
the  Indians  were  pitiable. 

Champlain's  shot  dictated  the  reconstruction  of  In 
dian  warfare ;  but  the  Iroquois  took  to  heart  so 
promptly  the  lesson,  that  the  Algonkins  north  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  were  able  to  profit  little  by  their  tem 
porary  victory.  Full  of  hate  to  the  French  for  inter 
fering  to  their  disadvantage,  the  Mohawks  at  once 
made  friends  with  the  Dutch. 

Both  Hudson  and  Champlain  had  visited  Mount 
Desert  Island,  and  thence  separating  had  penetrated 
the  continent  by  the  great  water-ways,  both  reaching 
the  heart  of  New  York  within  a  few  miles  of  each 
other.  While  the  French  founded  Quebec,  and  set 
tled  at  Montreal,  the  Dutch  made  a  trading  settlement 
on  the  Hudson  at  Norman's  Kill,  Tawasentha.  This 
"  place  of  many  graves  "  and  immemorial  tradition 
was  the  seat  of  their  great  civilizer  and  teacher,  Hia 
watha,  who  had  introduced  one  phase  of  progress.  It 
was  now  destined  to  be  the  gateway  to  a  new  era  of 
change  and  development.  As  in  Japan,  at  the  other 
side  of  the  gltfbe,  at  nearly  the  same  time  white  men, 
gunpowder,  and  Christianity  had  come  all  together. 

It  was  not  out  of  disinterested  benevolence  that  the 
confederate  savages  sought  the  friendship  of  the  Hol 
landers.  They  came  to  buy  powder  and  ball,  to  arm 
themselves  with  equal  weapons  of  vengeance,  and  to 
protect  themselves  against  the  French. 


42  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

But  if  Champlain  was  a  mighty  figure  in  the  imagi 
nation  of  the  red  man  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  there 
was  coming  a  greater  than  he.  This  new  man  was  to 
impress  more  deeply  the  imagination  of  all  the  Iro 
quois,  and  his  name  was  to  live  in  their  language  as  long 
as  their  speech  was  heard  on  the  earth.  Champlain  was 
a  bringer  of  war ;  "  Corlaer  "  was  an  apostle  of  peace. 

Arendt  Van  Curler  is  a  perfectly  clear  figure  in  the 
Indian  tradition,  and  in  the  history  and  documentary 
archives  of  the  Empire  State.  Having  no  descend 
ants  to  embalm  his  name  in  art  or  literature,  he  has 
not  had  his  monument.  Yet  he  deserves  to  have  his 
name  enrolled  high  among  the  makers  of  America. 
The  ignorance,  errors  —  and  there  is  a  long  list  of 
them  —  of  writers  on  American  and  local  history  con 
cerning  Arendt  Van  Curler,  have  been  gross  and  inex 
cusable.  It  were  surely  worth  while  to  know  the 
original  of  that  "  Corlaer "  after  whom  the  Indians 
named,  first  the  governors  of  New  York,  and  later 
the  governors  of  English  Canada,  and  finally  Queen 
Victoria,  the  Empress  of  India.  To  the  Iroquois  mind, 
Corlaer  was  the  representative  of  Teutonic  civilization. 
Other  governors  of  colonies  and  prominent  figures 
among  the  pale -faces,  they  called  by  names  coined 
by  themselves,  just  as  they  named  their  own  warriors 
ftom  trivial  incidents  or  temporary  associations.  Even 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  was  only  their  unnamed 
"  Father ;  "  but  as  our  ablest  American  historian,  Fran 
cis  Parkman,  has  said  :  "  His  [Van  Curler's]  impor 
tance  in  the  eyes  of  the  Iroquois,  and  their  attachment 
to  him  are  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  always  used 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  43 

his  name  (in  the  form  of  Corlaer)  as  the  official  des 
ignation  of  the  governor  of  New  York,  just  as  they 
called  the  governors  of  Canada,  Onontio,  and  those 
of  Pennsylvania,  Onas.  I  know  of  no  other  in 
stance  in  which  Iroquois  used  the  name  of  an  indi 
vidual  to  designate  the  holder  of  an  office.  Onontio 
means  ( a  great  mountain  ; '  Onas  means  '  a  quill  or 
pen ; '  Kinshon,  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  '  a 
fish.'  "  l 

Rev.  I.  A.  Cuoq,  in  his  "Lexique  de  la  Language 
Iroquoise,"  also  remarks  that  the  title  Kora,  the  pres 
ent  form  of  [Van]  Curler,  given  even  yet  to  the  kings 
and  queens  of  England  and  to  the  English  governors 
of  Canada,  is  a  purely  Iroquois  creation ;  while  that 
Df  Onontio,  used  of  the  French  king  and  governors, 
was  given  for  the  first  time  to  Montmagny,  the  suc 
cessor  of  Champlain.  Quite  differently  from  their 
method  in  the  case  of  Van  Curler,  they  translated, 
with  the  aid  of  the  French  missionaries,  Montmagny's 
name,  rendering  it  freely  by  Onontio,  which  means, 
strictly  speaking,  "  the  beautiful  mountain,"  rather  than 
"  the  great  mountain."  The  term  Onontio  was  used 
until  the  end  of  the  French  dominion  in  America, 
whereas  Kora  [or  Corlaer]  is  still  in  vogue ;  Queen 
Victoria  being  to  the  Canadian  Indians  Kora-Kowa,  or 
the  great  Van  Curler. 

As  first-cousin  of  Kilian  Van  Rensselaer,  Arendt 

Van  Curler,  a  native  of  the  country  near  Amsterdam, 

but  probably  of  Huguenot  descent,  reached  America 

in  1630,  and  became  superintendent  and  justice  of 

1  Letter  to  the  writer,  Feb.  7,  1890. 


44  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  colony  at  Rensselaerwyck.  From  the  very  first 
he  dealt  with  the  Indians  in  all  honour,  truth,  and  jus 
tice.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  a  Dutch 
patriot,  and  a  Christian  of  the  Reformed  faith,  but 
also  a  man  of  continental  ideas,  a  lover  of  all  good 
men,  and  a  Catholic  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term. 
He  rescued  from  death  and  torture  the  Christian  pris 
oners  in  Mohawk  villages ;  and  his  first  visit  into,  or 
"  discovery  "  of  the  Valley  as  far  as  Fonda  in  Septem 
ber,  1642,  was  to  ransom  Father  Jogues.  His  de 
scription  of  "  the  most  beautiful  land  on  the  Mohawk 
River  that  eye  ever  saw,"  and  the  journal  of  his  jour 
ney,  probably  sent  with  his  letter  of  June  16,  1643, 
to  the  Patroon,  form  the  first  written  description  of 
the  Valley.  He  mastered  the  vernacular  of  the  sav 
ages,  visited  them  at  their  council-fires,  heard  their 
complaints,  dealt  honestly  with  them,  and  compelled 
others  to  do  the  same.  The  first  covenant  of  friend 
ship,  made  in  1617,  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Iro- 
quois,  and  its  various  later  renewals,  he  developed 
into  a  policy  of  lasting  peace  and  amity.  The  scat 
tered  links  of  friendship  between  the  Dutch  and  the 
confederacy  of  Indians  he  forged  into  an  irrefragable 
chain,  which,  until  the  English-speaking  white  men 
went  to  war  in  1775,  was  never  broken.  In  1663  he 
saved  the  army  of  Courcelles  from  starvation  and 
probably  destruction.  Winning  alike  the  respect  of 
the  French  in  Canada,  and  of  their  enemies,  the  Mo 
hawks,  he  was  invited  to  visit  the  governor,  Tracy,  in 
Quebec.  On  his  journey  thither  in  1667,  he  was 
drowned  in  Lake  Champlain  near  Rock  Regis,  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  45 

boundary-mark  between  the  Iroquois  and  Algonkin 
Indians.  This  lake,  like  the  Mohawk  River,  and  the 
town  of  Schenectady  which  he  founded,  the  Indians 
and  Canadians  called  Corlaer. 

Rarely,  if  ever,  was  a  council  held  in  Albany  or  at 
Johnson's  house  or  at  the  Onondaga  fireplace,  that 
Corlaer's  name  was  not  mentioned,  and  their  "  cov 
enant  chain  "  with  him  referred  to  under  the  varied 
figures  of  rhetoric. 

Van  Curler's  policy  was  continued  and  expanded 
by  Peter  Schuyler,  a  son  of  Van  Curler's  warm  per 
sonal  friend,  Philip  Schuyler.  As  the  Iroquois  in 
speaking  never  closed  the  lips,  but  used  the  orotund 
with  abundance  of  gutturals,  they  were  unable  to  pro 
nounce  properly  names  in  which  labial  consonants 
occurred.  They  could  not  say  Peter ;  so  they  called 
their  friend  "  Quider."  The  policy  of  Johnson  was 
simply  a  continuation  and  expansion  of  that  of  these 
two  Hollanders,  Van  Curler  and  Schuyler.  There 
was  no  name  of  any  white  man  that  Johnson  heard 
oftener  in  the  mouths  of  the  Indians  than  that  of  Cor 
laer  ;  and  yet,  in  the  index  of  seventy  thousand  refer, 
ences  to  the  Johnson  manuscripts  in  Albany  there  is 
no  reference  to  this  founder  of  the  Dutch  policy  of 
peace  with  the  Indians. 

In  their  political  and  social  procedures,  in  public 
discourse,  and  in  the  etiquette  of  councils,  no  deni 
zens  of  European  courts  were  more  truly  bond  slaves 
to  etiquette  and  custom  than  these  forest  senators. 
In  certain  outward  phases  of  life  —  especially  noticed 
by  the  man  of  hats,  boots,  and  clean  underclothing  — 


46  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  Indian  seems  to  be  a  child  of  freedom,  untutored 
and  unsophisticated.  In  reality  he  is  a  slave  com 
pared  to  the  enlightened  and  civilized  man.  He  is 
by  heredity,  training,  and  environment  fettered  almost 
beyond  hope.  His  mind  can  move  out  of  predes 
tined  grooves  only  after  long  education,  when  a  new 
God,  new  conceptions,  induced  power  of  abstract  rea 
soning,  and  an  entirely  new  mental  outlook  are  given 
him.  First  of  all,  the  savage  needs  a  right  idea  of 
the  Maker  of  the  universe  and  of  the  laws  by  which 
the  creation  is  governed ;  and  then  only  does  his  men 
tal  freedom  begin.  So  far  from  being  free  from  pre 
scribed  form,  he  is  less  at  liberty  than  a  Chinese 
or  Hindu.  His  adherence  to  ceremonial  runs  into 
bigotry.  The  calumet  must  be  smoked.  The  open 
ing  speech  must  be  on  approved  models.  The  wam 
pum  belts  are  as  indispensable  in  a  treaty  as  are  seals 
and  signatures  in  a  Berlin  conference  or  a  Paris  treaty. 
To  challenge  tradition,  to  step  out  of  routine,  to  think 
for  himself,  and  to  act  according  to  conviction,  is 
more  dangerous  and  costly  to  him  than  to  one  who 
has  lived  under  the  codes  of  civilization. 

To  gain  his  almost  invincible  influence  over  these 
red  republicans  of  the  woods,  Johnson,  like  his  previous 
exemplars,  had  to  let  patience  have  her  perfect  work. 
He  had  to  stoop  to  them  in  order  to  lift  them  up. 
He  even  learned  to  outdo  them  in  ostentation  of 
etiquette,  in  rigid  adherence  to  form,  in  close  atten 
tion  to  long  speeches  without  interruption,  in  con 
vincing  eloquence,  in  prolixity  when  it  was  necessary 
to  subdue  the  red  man's  brain  and  flesh  by  the  power 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  47 

of  the  tongue,  and  in  shine  and  glitter  of  outward 
display.  Like  a  shrewd  strategist,  this  typical  Irish 
man  knew  when  to  exercise  his  native  gift  of  garrulity 
in  talking  against  time,  and  when  also  to  condense 
into  fiery  sentences  the  message  of  the  hour. 

One  chief  reason,  however,  why  the  Iroquois  pre 
ferred  to  talk  with  him  more  than  with  the  average 
colonial  grandee,  was  because  they  were  not  when 
before  him  at  the  mercy  of  interpreters.  Despite  the 
fact  that  time  was  of  little  value  to  the  savage,  it 
was  rather  trying  to  an  Indian  orator,  after  dilating 
for  an  hour  or  two  in  all  the  gorgeous  eloquence  of 
figurative  language,  to  the  manifest  acceptance  of  his 
own  kinsmen  at  least,  to  have  an  interpreter  render 
the  substance  of  his  oration  in  a  few  sentences.  Un 
accustomed  to  abstract  reasoning,  the  Indian  was 
perforce  obliged  to  draw  the  images  of  thought  en 
tirely  from  the  environment  of  his  life  on  land  and 
water.  Hence  his  speech  superabounded  with  meta 
phors.  He  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  discourse  of  one 
of  his  pale-faced  brothers  whose  flowery  language, 
while  insufferably  prolix  to  his  fellow- whites,  ran  on 
in  exuberant  verbosity.  In  such  a  case,  as  Johnson 
soon  learned  to  know,  the  sons  of  the  forest  felt  com 
plimented  and  flattered.  Rarely  was  a  speaker  in 
terrupted.  Extreme  rigidity  of  decorum  was  the  rule 
at  their  councils.  On  great  and  solemn  occasions  the 
women  were  called  as  witnesses  and  listeners  to  hold 
in  their  memory  words  spoken  or  promises  given. 

There  were  other  resources  of  human  intercourse 
besides  words.  The  wampum  strings  that  reminded 


48  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

one  of  rosaries,  or  the  belts  made  of  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  of  black  and  white  shells,  served  as  telegrams,  let 
ters  missive,  credentials,  contracts,  treaties,  currency, 
and  most  of  the  purposes  in  diplomacy  and  business. 
The  principal  chief  of  a  tribe  had  the  custody  of  these 
archives  of  State.  A  definite  value  was  placed  upon 
these  drilled,  polished,  and  strung  disks  or  oval  cylin 
ders  of  shell.  The  Dutch  soon  learned  to  make  a 
better  fabric  than  the  Indian  original,  and  they  taught 
the  art  to  the  other  colonists.  Wheeden,  in  his 
"Economic  History  of  New  England,"  has  shown 
how  great  an  aid  to  commerce  this,  the  ancient  money 
of  nearly  all  nations,  proved  in  the  early  days  when 
coined  money  was  so  scarce.  The  belts  used  as  news 
letters,  as  tokens  of  peace  or  war,  as  records  of  the 
past,  or  as  confirmations  of  treaties,  were  often  gener 
ous  in  width  and  length,  beautifully  made,  and  fringed 
with  coloured  strings.  Schenectady  was  a  famous 
place  of  wampum  or  seewant  manufacture  ;  and  Hille 
Van  Olinda,  an  interpreter,  received  in  1692  two 
pounds  eight  shillings  for  two  great  belts.  Two  others 
of  like  proportions  cost  three  pounds  twelve  shillings.  A 
large  quantity  of  this  sort  of  currency  was  always  carried 
by  the  French  to  win  over  the  Indians  to  their  side. 
The  same  commercial  and  diplomatic  tactics  were  also 
followed  by  the  English,  and  especially  by  Johnson. 

The  Iroquois  had  also  a  rude  system  of  heraldry. 
A  traveller  over  the  great  trails  or  highways,  or  along 
the  shores  of  the  great  water-ways  most  often  trav 
ersed,  would  have  seen  many  tokens  of  aboriginal  art. 
The  annals  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  and  of  travellers 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  49 

show  that  besides  the  hideously  painted  or  carved 
manitou  or  idols  found  at  certain  well-known  places, 
the  trees  and  rocks  were  decorated  with  the  totem 
signs.  The  wolf,  the  bear,  the  tortoise,  were  the  living 
creatures  most  frequently  seen  in  effigy  on  tent,  robes, 
or  arms.  Or  they  were  set  as  their  seal  and  sign-man 
ual  on  the  title-deeds  of  lands  bartered  away,  which 
the  white  man  required  as  proofs  of  sale  and  absolute 
alienation,  though  often  the  red  man  intended  only 
joint  occupancy.  In  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  there 
were  eight  totem-clans,  which  formed  an  eight-fold 
bond  of  union  in  the  great  commonwealth.  Less  im 
portant  symbols  were  the  deer,  serpent,  beaver,  stone 
pipe,  etc.  In  their  drawings  on  trees  or  rocks  there 
were  certain  canons  of  art  well  understood  and  easily 
read.  A  canoe  meant  a  journey  by  water;  human 
figures  without  heads,  so  many  scalps ;  the  same  hold 
ing  a  chain,  as  being  in  alliance  and  friendship ;  an 
axe,  an  emblem  of  war,  etc.  A  rude  fraternity,  with 
secrets,  signs,  and  ceremonies,  —  the  freemasonry  of  the 
forest,  — was  also  known  and  was  powerful  in  its  in 
fluence.  In  family  life,  inheritance  was  on  the  female 
side ;  and  on  many  subjects  the  advice  of  the  women 
was  sought  and  taken,  and  as  witness-auditors  they 
were  a  necessity  at  solemn  councils,  as  well  as  made 
the  repository  of  tradition. 

Exactly  what  the  religion  of  the  Indians  was  it 
would  be  hard  to  say.  To  arrange  their  fluctuating 
and  hazy  ideas  into  a  system  would  be  impossible. 
Whatever  the  real  mental  value  of  their  words  "  man 
itou"  and  "wakan,"  or  other- terms  implying  deity, 

•/& 

f   UNiVtkSiTY   I 


SO  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

or  simply  used  to  cover  ignorance  or  express  mystery, 
it  is  evident  that  the  blind  worship  of  force  was  the 
essence  of  their  faith.  Living  much  nearer  to  the 
animal  creation  than  the  civilized  man,  they  were 
prone  to  recognize  in  the  brute  either  a  close  kinship 
or  an  incarnation  of  divine  power.  Extremes  meet. 
The  current  if  not  the  final  philosophy  of  the  scien 
tific  mind  in  our  century,  and  that  of  the  savage,  have 
many  points  in  common.  All  animated  life  was  linked 
together,  but  the  red  man  saw  the  presence  of  the 
deity  of  his  conception  in  every  mysterious  movement 
of  animate  or  inanimate  things.  Even  the  rattlesnake 
was  the  bearer  of  bane  or  blessing  according  as  it  was 
treated.  Alexander  Henry,  the  traveller  from  Phila 
delphia,  relates  that  on  meeting  a  snake  four  or  five 
feet  long,  which  he  would  have  killed,  the  Iroquois 
reverently  called  it  "  grandfather,"  blew  their  tobacco 
smoke  in  puffs  toward  it  to  please  the  reptile,  and 
prayed  to  it  to  influence  Colonel  Johnson  "  to  take 
care  of  their  families  during  their  absence,  to  show 
them  charity,  and  to  fill  their  canoes  with  rum." 
When,  afterward,  they  were  on  the  lake  and  a  storm 
arose,  Henry  came  very  near  being  made  a  Jonah  to 
appease  the  wrath  of  the  rattlesnake -manitou,  but  for 
tunately  the  tempest  passed  and  it  cleared  off. 

The  Indians  invented  the  birch  or  elrn  bark  canoe, 
the  racket  or  snow-shoe,  the  moccasin,  all  of  which 
the  white  frontiersmen  were  quick  to  utilize  when 
they  saw  their  value.  They  also  taught  the  settlers 
the  use  of  new  kinds  of  food,  and  how  to  get  it  from 
the  soil  or  the  water.  To  tread  out  eels  from  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  51 

mud,  catch  fish  with  the  hand  or  with  fish-hooks  of 
bone,  and  to  till  the  ground,  even  in  the  forest,  for 
maize,  squashes  and  pumpkins,  were  lessons  learned 
from  the  red  man.  Frontier  and  savage  life  had 
many  points  in  common,  and  not  a  little  Indian  blood 
entered  into  the  veins  of  Americans.  There  were  hun 
dreds  of  instances  of  women  as  well  as  men  rescued 
from  their  supposed  low  estate  as  captives  who  pre 
ferred  to  remain  with  the  Indians  in  savage  life.  Often 
white  settlers  were  saved  from  death  by  starvation  by 
friendly  red  men  or  half-breeds ;  while  half  the  plots 
of  the  savages  failed  because  of  the  warnings  given  by 
friendly  squaws,  or  boys  who  were  usually  not  full- 
blooded. 

Great  changes  took  place  within  the  Iroquois  Con 
federacy  after  the  advent  of  the  white  man.  His 
fire-arms,  liquor,  fences,  and  ideas  at  once  began  to 
modify  Indian  politics,  hunting,  social  life,  and  re 
ligion.  The  unity  of  interests  was  broken,  and  divi 
sion  and  secession  set  in,  as  steady  currents,  to  weaken 
the  forest  republic.  Large  numbers  of  the  Iroquois 
emigrated  westward  to  live  and  hunt  in  Ohio  and  be 
yond,  and  joined  the  Ottawa  confederacy.  Others 
left  in  bands  or  groups,  and  made  their  homes  in 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  or  the  Southwest,  to  get  away, 
if  possible,  from  the  white  man's  fences  and  fire-water. 
Others  followed  their  religious  teachers  into  Canada, 
and  made  settlements  there.  These  losses  were  only 
in  a  measure  made  good  by  the  addition  to  the  Long 
House  of  a  whole  tribe  from  the  South,  the  Tuscaroras,. 
whose  ancestral  seats  had  been  in  the  Carolinas. 


52  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

North  Carolina  was  one  of  the  majority  of  the 
original  thirteen  States  first  settled  by  a  variety  of  col 
onists,  —  French,  German,  Swiss,  Scottish,  and  Irish, 
as  well  as  English.  At  first  red  and  white  men  lived 
at  peace ;  but  soon  the  inevitable  "question"  came, 
and  the  Indians  imagined  that  they  could  show  them 
selves  superior  to  the  pale  faces.  Making  what  white 
historians  call  a  "  conspiracy,"  but  striking  what  they 
believed  to  be  a  blow  for  home  and  freedom,  they 
rose,  and  in  one  night  massacred  in  or  near  Roa- 
noke  alone  one  hundred  and  thirty- seven  of  the  white 
settlers.  Their  murderous  act  at  once  drew  out 
the  vengeance  of  Governor  Craven  of  South  Caro 
lina,  who  sent  Col.  John  Barnwell,  an  Irishman,  who 
marched  with  a  regiment  of  six  hundred  whites  and 
several  hundred  Indian  allies.  Without  provision 
trains,  but  subsisting  as  Indians  do  in  a  wilderness 
unbroken  by  villages,  farms,  or  clearings,  Barnwell 
struck  the  Tuscaroras  in  battle,  and  reduced  their 
numbers  by  the  loss  of  three  hundred  warriors.  Pur 
suing  them  to  their  fortified  castle,  he  laid  siege  and 
compelled  surrender.  By  successive  blows,  this  "  Tus- 
carora  John,"  by  death  or  capture,  destroyed  one 
thousand  fighting  men,  and  compelled  the  remainder 
of  the  tribe  to  leave  the  graves  of  their  fathers,  and 
emigrate  northward.  Only  a  remnant  reached  New 
York.  The  Tuscaroras  joined  the  Iroquois  Confede 
racy  in  1713,  and  the  federated  forest  republic  then 
took  upon  itself  the  style  and  title  of  the  Six  Nations. 
Nearly  a  century  afterward,  when  the  Iroquois  Con 
federacy  was  a  dream,  and  the  Southern  Confederacy 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  53 

beginning  to  be  woven  of  the  same  stuff,  the  descend 
ant  of  "  Tuscarora  John,"  who  had  added  a  new 
tribe  to  the  Long  House,  gave  at  Montgomery,  Ala 
bama,  the  casting  vote  that  made  Jefferson  Davis 
President  of  a  new  one  in  the  many  forms  of  federa 
tion  on  the  North  American  continent.  About  the 
same  time  the  great  English  historian,  Freeman,  neg 
lecting  for  the  nonce  the  distinction  between  history 
and  prophecy,  began  his  work  on  the  "  History  of 
Federal  Government,  from  the  Achaian  League  to  the 
Disruption  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  only  one 
volume  of  which  was  published,  the  events  of  1863- 
1865  compelling  the  completion  of  the  work  to  be 
indefinitely  postponed. 

How  far  the  various  attempts  of  the  red  man  to 
combine  in  federal  union  for  common  strength  or 
defence,  and  especially  those  in  the  stable  political 
edifice  in  New  York,  were  potent  in  aiding  the  forma 
tion  of  the  American  Commonwealth,  is  an  interesting 
question  worthy  of  careful  study.  That  it  was  not 
without  direct  influence  upon  the  minds  of  those  con 
structive  statesmen  like  Franklin,  Hamilton,  Madison, 
Monroe,  who  came  so  numerously  from  States  nearest 
the  Long  House,  and  most  familiar  with  Iroquois 
politics,  cannot  be  denied.  The  men  of  the  English- 
speaking  colonies  which  had  been  peopled  from  con 
tinental  and  insular  Europe,  were  inheritors  of  classic 
culture.  They  naturally  read  the  precedents  fur 
nished  by  Greece  and  Rome;  but  they  were  also 
powerfully  affected  by  the  living  realities  of  the  fed 
eral  republics  of  Holland  and  Switzerland,  as  well  as 


54  .S7ff    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

in  the  aristocratic  republic  of  Venice,  while  in  the  one 
nearest  England  many  of  them  were  educated.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  affirm,  however,  that  the  power  of 
this  great  example  at  home,  on  the  soil  and  under 
their  eyes,  was  as  great  in  moulding  opinion  and  con 
solidating  thought  in  favour  of  a  federal  union  of 
States,  as  were  the  distant  exemplars  of  the  ancient 
world,  or  in  modern  Europe.  Though  we  give  him 
no  credit,  and  spurn  the  idea  of  political  indebted 
ness  to  the  red  man,  with  almost  the  same  intolerant 
fierceness  that  some  of  the  latter-day  New  England 
Puritans  deny  obligations  to  the  Dutch  Republic  that 
sheltered  and  educated  their  fathers,  yet  our  govern 
ment  is  in  a  measure  copied  from  that  of  the  forest 
republicans,  whose  political  edifice  and  conquests 
shaped  the  history  and  civilization  of  this  continent. 
In  still  retaining  the  sonorous  names  given  to  our 
mountains,  valleys,  and  rivers,  and  in  transferring 
these  to  our  ships  and  men-of-war;  in  giving  the 
effigy  of  the  Indian  a  place  on  our  municipal  coats  of 
arms  and  seals  of  State,  we  are  proving  that  in  our 
memory  at  least  of  the  aboriginal  dwellers  on  the 
soil  they  are  not  wholly  forgotten.  These  graphic 
symbols  are,  indeed,  but  shadows;  but  beyond  all 
shadow  is  substance. 

While  the  white  man's  gunpowder  and  bullets,  war, 
diseases,  fire-water,  and  trade  wrought  profound 
changes  for  better  or  worse,  usually  the  latter,  the 
Indians  were  not  stolid  or  unreceptive  to  his  religion. 
Both  the  Roman  and  the  Reformed  teachers  won 
many  disciples  in  the  Long  House.  Almost  as  soon 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  55 

as  the  learned  Domine  Megapolensis  arrived  at  Fort 
Orange,  he  began  to  learn  the  language  of  the  Mo 
hawks.  He  was  soon  able  to  preach  to  them  and  to 
teach  their  children.  This  was  three  years  before 
John  Eliot  began  his  work  in  Massachusetts.  The 
pastors  at  Schenectady  did  the  same,  translating  por 
tions  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  liturgy  of  the  Nether 
lands  Reformed  Church,  and  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  The  missionary  efforts  of  the  Dutch  Chris 
tians  soon  bore  definite  and  practical  results.  The 
Reformed  Church  records  show  large  numbers  of  In 
dians  baptized  or  married  or  buried  according  to 
Christian  rites.  There  are  also  frequent  instances  of 
adult  communicant  membership  in  the  Mohawk,  Hud 
son,  Raritan,  and  Hackensack  Valleys.  Hundreds  of 
Indian  children  were  trained  in  the  same  catechetical 
instruction,  and  in  the  same  classes  with  those  of  the 
whites.  As  a  general  rule,  the  Hollanders  and  other 
peoples  from  the  Continent  lived  in  kindness  and 
peace  with  their  red  brethren.  The  occasional  out 
breaks  of  the  savages  in  massacre,  fire,  and  blood 
were  not  by  those  of  New  York,  but  from  Canada. 
The  Indians  were  set  on  like  dogs  by  the  French, 
who  stimulated  the  thirst  for  blood  by  political  and 
religious  hatreds ;  and  the  English  repaid  in  kind. 
Rarely  was  the  peace  broken  between  the  people  of 
New  Netherlands  and  New  York  except  by  causes 
operative  in,  and  coming  from  Europe. 

The  first  Roman  Catholic  who  entered  the  bounds 
of  the  State  of  New  York  was  Isaac  Jogues,  who  was 
captured  by  the  Mohawks  while  ascending  the  St. 


56  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Lawrence  River.  One  of  the  sweetest  spirits  and 
noblest  characters  that  ever  glorified  the  flesh  he 
dwelt  in,  Isaac  Jognes  was  brought  captive  into  the 
Mohawk  Valley  to  be  reserved  for  fiendish  torture. 
Ransomed  by  Arendt  Van  Curler,  and  assisted  to 
France  by  Domine  Megapolensis,  these  three  men  of 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church  became  ever  after  true 
friends.  The  surface  discords  of  church  names  were 
lost  in  the  deeper  harmonies  of  their  one  faith  and 
love  to  a  common  Saviour.  Bressani  was  later  as 
sisted  in  like  manner.  Returning  willingly,  by  way  of 
Quebec,  after  his  fingers,  once  chewed  to  shapeless 
lumps  between  the  teeth  of  the  Mohawks,  had  been 
kissed  by  nobles  and  ladies  in  the  court  at  Versailles, 
Jogues  reached,  four  years  later  (1647),  tne  scene  of 
his  martyrdom  and  nameless  burial.  His  severed 
head,  mounted  upon  one  of  the  palisades  of  the  In 
dian  castle,  was  set  with  its  face  to  Canada,  whence 
he  came,  in  insult  and  defiance. 

Nevertheless,  the  French  Jesuit  missionaries,  with 
unquailing  courage  and  fervent  faith,  persevered  ;  and 
Poncet,  Le  Moyne,  Fremin,  Bruyas,  and  Pierron 
passed  to  and  fro  through  Albany  to  continue  the 
work  in  what  they  had  already  named  as  the  Mission 
of  the  Martyrs.  In  1667  St.  Mary's  Chapel  was 
established  at  the  Indian  village  which  stood  on  the 
site  of  Spraker's  Basin.  In  1669  St.  Peter's  Chapel 
was  built  of  logs  on  the  sand-flats  at  Caughnawaga 
near  Fonda,  by  Boniface.  Here  in  1676  the  Iro- 
quois  maiden  Tegawita  —  the  White  Lily  of  the  Mo 
hawks,  the  now  canonized  saint  —  was  baptized  by 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  57 

James  de  Lamberville.  From  1642  to  1684  was  the 
golden  age  of  early  missions  of  the  Roman  form  of 
the  Christian  faith  in  New  York.  Then  it  was  abruptly 
brought  to  a  close,  not  because  of  Indian  animosity  or 
Protestant  opposition,  but  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Governor  Dongan  in  the  interests  of  British  trade. 

Perhaps  this  interruption  was  not  wholly  dictated 
by  greed,  but  was  strongly  influenced  by  political  in 
terests.  This  fact  must  be  noted.  When  Catharine 
Ganneaktena,  an  Erie  Indian  woman  adopted  into  the 
Oneida  tribe,  was  led  to  serious  thought  by  Bruyas,  to 
whom  she  taught  the  language  in  1668,  and  with  her 
Christian  husband  was  persecuted  by  the  pagans,  the 
couple  left  for  Montreal.  Here  she  was  baptized  and 
confirmed  by  Bishop  Laval.  Instructed  by  Raffeix, 
who  was  somewhat  of  a  statesman,  Catharine  invited 
several  of  her  family  in  New  York  to  Canada,  and 
early  in  1670  they  founded  the  Indian  village  of  La 
Prairie,  where  members  of  the  Iroquois  Confeder 
acy  might  come  to  settle.  According  to  the  code 
of  laws  established  in  this  Christian  community,  every 
one  must  renounce  belief  in  dreams,  polygamy,  and 
drunkenness.  This  settlement  was  destined  to  be  a 
powerful  influence,  not  only  in  the  Christianization  of 
the  Indians,  but  upon  the  politics  of  New  York.  In 
1674,  the  wife  of  Kryn,  "the  great  Mohawk,"  who 
had  conquered  the  Mohegans,  became  a  Christian,  and 
her  husband  abandoned  her.  Happening  in  his  wan 
derings  to  visit  the  Christian  village  of  La  Prairie, 
Kryn  was  impressed  with  the  peace  and  order  reign 
ing  in  it,  and  after  a  time  became  a  Christian. 


$8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Returning  to  his  home  on  the  Mohawk,  Kryn  told 
what  he  had  seen,  and  persuaded  forty  of  his  fellows 
from  Caughnawaga  (now  Fonda,  New  York)  to  follow 
him.  They  reached  La  Prairie  on  Easter  Sunday, 
1676.  From  this  time  forth  Kryn  was  an  active  mis 
sionary,  on  one  occasion  talking  over  a  whole  party 
of  sixty  Mohawks  sent  by  Dongan  on  a  raid  against 
the  French,  and  converting  four  of  them  to  Christian 
ity.  He  also  persuaded  the  Oneidas  and  Onondagas 
to  keep  peace  with  the  French,  and  in  this  was  aided 
by  the  remarkable  influence  of  Garakonthie,  the  Chris 
tian  protector  of  "  the  black  coats."  It  was  Kryn 
who  led,  and  it  was  these  "  praying  Indians  "  from 
Canada  who  with  the  French  were  sent  by  Frontenac 
to  destroy  Schenectady  in  1690;  and  it  was  he  who 
just  before  the  attack  harangued  them  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  fury.  His  especial  pretext  for  revenge  was 
the  murder  of  sixty  Canadian  Indians  by  the  Iroquois 
about  six  months  previously. 

For  many  years  La  Prairie  was  the  gathering-place 
of  seceders  from  the  confederacy  who  had  adopted 
the  religion  of  their  French  teachers.  In  1763  the 
village  had  three  hundred  fighting  men ;  during  the 
Revolution  the  number  increased,  and  at  present  the 
Indian  reservation  at  Caughnawaga,  about  twenty 
miles  from  Montreal,  contains  about  thirteen  hundred 
Roman  Catholic  Indians.  These  facts  explain  why 
the  Mohawks  and  others  of  the  confederacy  had  so 
many  relatives  fighting  for  the  French,  and  why  the 
political  situation  in  New  York,  until  the  fall  of 
French  dominion,  was  so  complex.  As  a  rule,  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  59 

Iroquois  preferred  the  more  sensuous  religion  of  the 
French,  while  eager  also  for  the  strouds,  duffels,  guns, 
and  blankets  of  the  Dutch.  Under  Gallic  and  British 
influences,  their  hearts  were  as  often  divided  as  their 
heads  were  distracted.  They  were  like  tourists  from 
Dover  to  Calais,  when  in  the  choppy  seas  which  seethe 
between  the  coasts  of  England,  France,  and  Holland. 

In  1684  Jean  de  Lamberville,  the  last  Jesuit  settler* 
in  New  York  among  the  Iroquois,  departed  for  Can 
ada  amid  the  lamentations  of  the  Onondagas  who 
escorted  him.  In  a  few  generations  all  traces  of  the 
work  of  the  French  missionaries  had  vanished  from 
the  Mohawk  Valley.  In  our  days,  when  under  the 
farmer's  plough  or  labourer's  pickaxe,  the  earth  casts 
out  her  dead,  the  copper  rings  with  the  sign  of  the 
cross  tell  the  touching  story  of  the  Indian  maiden's 
faith.  Under  the  eloquent  pen  of  John  Gilmary  Shea 
the  thrilling  story  of  labour  and  martyrdom  glows. 
The  Shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Martyrs  at  Auriesville 
shows  that  even  modern  piety  can  find  fresh  stimulus 
in  recalling  the  events  which  have  made  the  Mohawk 
Valley  classic  ground  to  devout  pilgrims  as  well  as  to 
the  scholar  and  patriot. 

For  over  a  century  —  from  1664  until  1783  —  the 
diplomatic,  military,  and  eleemosynary  operations  of 
British  agents  and  armies  among  the  Iroquois  were 
actively  carried  on.  These  were  prolonged  and  costly, 
and  had  much  to  do  with  making  the  enormous  pub 
lic  debt  of  England,  still  unpaid.  The  effect  was  to 
affect  powerfully  the  imagination  of  the  British  public. 
It  was  not  merely  the  fiction  of  Cooper  which  created 


60  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  tendency  of  the  Englishman  just  landed  at  Castle 
Garden  to  look  for  painted  and  feathered  Indians  on 
Broadway.  The  author  of  "  Leatherstocking "  did 
but  stimulate  the  imagination  already  fed  by  the  nar 
ratives  of  returned  veterans.  Thousands  of  soldiers, 
who  had  heard  the  war-whoop  in  forest  battles,  told 
their  stories  at  British  hearthstones  until  well  into  this 
century.  They,  with  Cooper,  are  responsible  for  the 
idea  that  forests  grow  in  Philadelphia.  The  fear  still 
possessing  English  children  that  American  visitors, 
even  of  unmixed  European  blood,  may  turn  red  or 
black,  is  one  prompted  by  tradition  as  well  as  by 
literary  fiction. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  6 1 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   STRUGGLE    FOR  A   CONTINENT. 

FOR  the  possession  of  the  North  American  conti 
nent  two  nations,  France  and  England,  representing 
the  two  civilizations,  Roman  and  Teutonic,  which 
dominate  respectively  Southern  and  Northern  Europe, 
contended.  France,  in  America,  embodied  the  Ro 
man  or  more  ancient  type  of  civilization,  in  which 
government  and  order  were  represented  by  the  priest 
and  the  soldier,  while  the  people  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  the  government,  except  to  obey.  External 
authority  was  everything ;  inward  condition,  little  or 
nothing.  The  French  system  was  not  that  of  real  col 
onization,  but  of  military  possession  ;  and  the  desired 
form  of  social  and  political  order  was  that  based  on 
monarchy  and  feudalism.  In  the  despotism  of  a  Church 
subordinate  to  a  ruler  in  Italy,  and  of  a  State  represented 
by  a  monarch,  the  individual  was  lost,  and  the  people's 
function  was  simply  to  submit  and  pay  taxes.  They 
were  taught  to  look  upon  their  privileges  and  enjoy 
ments  as  the  gifts  of  the  sovereign  and  of  the  Church. 
Authority  emanated  from  the  government,  which  rep 
resented  God,  and  represented  Him  infallibly. 

The  English  colonists,  whose  leaders  had  been 
largely  trained  in  the  Dutch  Republic,  represented 
the  best  elements  of  Teutonic  civilization,  those  of 


62  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

English  blood  being  more  English  than  the  English 
men  left  behind,  and  more  Teutonic  than  the  Ger 
mans.  Most  of  the  principles  and  institutions  wrought 
out  in  the  experience  of  the  colonists,  especially  those 
now  seen  to  be  most  peculiarly  American,  were  not  of 
British,  but  of  continental  origin.  New  England  was 
settled  mostly  by  immigrants  who  had  left  England 
before  1 640  ;  and  nearly  all  their  leaders  had  come  by 
way  of  Holland,  receiving  their  political  and  military 
education  in  the  United  States  of  Holland,  and  under 
its  red,  white,  and  blue  flag. 

The  strong  hereditary  instincts  of  Germanic  free 
dom  were  best  represented  in  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury  by  the  Hollanders,  who  in  the  little  republic 
had  long  lived  under  democratic  institutions.  Nearly 
all  the  leading  men  who  settled  New  England  had 
come  to  America  after  a  longer  or  shorter  stay  in 
Holland,  where  they  imbibed  the  republican  ideas 
which  they  transported  as  good  seed  to  America.  The 
Pilgrims,  who  were  the  first  settlers  of  Massachusetts ; 
many  of  the  Puritans  who  came  later  to  Boston  and 
Salem  j  the  leaders  of  the  Connecticut  Colony,  — 
Hooker,  Davenport,  and  many  of  their  company,  — 
had  all  been  in  Holland.  The  military  commanders 
—  Miles  Standish,  John  Smith,  Samuel  Argall,  Lyon 
Gardiner,  Governor  Dudley,  and  others  —  had  been 
trained  in  the  Dutch  armies.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  while  the  makers  of  New  England  were  English 
in  blood  and  language,  their  peculiar  institutions  were 
not  of  England,  but  directly  borrowed  from  the  one 
republic  of  Northern  Europe. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  63 

The  Middle  States  were  all  settled  under  the  Neth 
erlands  influences.  Even  in  New  York,  where  through 
the  patroon  system  semi-feudal  institutions  very  much 
like  those  of  aristocratic  England  had  begun,  the  in 
nate  love  of  liberty  in  the  people  ultimately  broke 
through  these  as  a  seed  through  its  shell.  The  full 
growth  was  the  typical  American  State  of  New  York, 
whose  constitution  possessed  more  of  the  features  of 
the  National  Constitution  of  1787  than  any  other  of 
the  original  thirteen  States.  Feudalism  and  its  ideas 
were  thus  for  the  most  part  left  behind  or  soon  out 
grown.  The  Church,  even  when  united  with  the  State, 
as  was  the  case  in  some  of  the  colonies,  was  of  demo 
cratic  form.  The  system  of  landholding  and  regis 
try,  the  town-meeting,  and  the  written  and  secret  bal 
lot,  —  all  Germanic  ideas,  —  with  many  customs  and 
practical  political  ideas  brought  from  Holland,  made 
the  people  free,  developed  the  individual  man,  and 
gave  the  colonies  a  reserve  of  strength  and  endurance 
impossible  in  Canada. 

In  their  plan  of  strategy,  the  French  idea  was  to 
limit  the  English  domain  within  and  east  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  Mountains  by  a  chain  of  forts  stretching  from 
Quebec  along  the  Great  Lakes,  down  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  This  was  a  scheme  of 
magnificent  distances,  involving  enormous  energy  and 
expense,  especially  while  the  English  held  the  sea- 
coast  and  bases  of  supplies.  It  was  evident  that  for 
any  hope  of  success  in  their  mighty  territorial  scheme 
the  aborigines  must  be  secured  as  allies.  In  this  work 
the  priest  could  do  more  than  the  soldier.  Hence 


64  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  zeal  and  energy  of  the  spiritual  orders  were  in 
voked,  and  put  under  tribute  to  the  grand  design  of 
Gallicizing  America. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  overcome  the  plans  of  the 
French,  there  must  be  that  which  could  neutralize  the 
wiles  of  the  Jesuit  as  well  as  the  ability  of  the  soldier. 
In  every  war  between  France  and  England,  Americans 
must  bear  a  part ;  and  until  the  ultimate  question 
should  have  been  decided,  the  Indian  held,  on  this 
continent,  the  balance  of  power.  Neutrality  to  red 
or  white  man  was  impossible.  The  spring,  the  dom 
inating  idea  of  diplomacy  and  war  in  Europe  was  this 
doctrine  of  the  balance  of  power ;  but  in  America  it 
was  less  a  speculative  notion  than  a  practical  reality. 
The  American  Indian  would  be  the  decisive  element 
until  one  or  other  of  the  two  nations  and  civilizations 
became  paramount. 

A  fresh  disturbance  of  this  doctrinal  stability  in 
European  politics  occurring  near  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  at  once  caused  the  scales  to  os 
cillate  in  America,  gave  the  French  the  first  advan 
tage,  and  compelled  William  Johnson  to  follow  up 
Van  Curler's  work,  and  to  be  the  most  active  agent 
and  influence  among  the  Mohawks  which  had  been 
felt  since  the  death  of  "  Brother  Corlaer."  This  series 
of  episodes  is  called  in  Europe  "The  War  of  the 
Austrian  Succession."  It  was  begun  by  Frederick  the 
Great  of  Prussia,  against  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria. 
In  America  it  is  known  in  history  as  the  "  Old  French 
War." 

The  "Old"  French  War  (not  that  of  1753)  was 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  65 

declared  by  Louis  XV.,  March  15,  1744.  The  news 
was  known  all  along  the  Canada  borders  by  the  end 
of  April.  The  tidings  travelled  more  slowly  in  the 
English  language ;  and  it  was  the  middle  of  May,  after 
the  French  had  attacked  the  English  garrison  at 
Canso  and  compelled  it  to  Surrender,  before  the  start 
ling  facts  aroused  the  colonies.  Already  the  Indian 
hatchets  had  been  sharpened,  and  the  plan  of  raid 
and  slaughter  well  made,  when  the  governor  of  New 
York,  relying  on  the  Indians  as  the  great  breakwater 
against  the  waves  of  Canadian  invasion,  called  a  coun 
cil  of  the  chiefs  of  the  confederated  Six  Nations  at 
Albany,  which  met  June  18,  1744. 

The  settlers  soon  found  that,  in  this  as  in  previous 
wars,  the  French  and  Canadian  Indians  were  the  more 
aggressive  party,  while  the  military  authorities  of  New 
York  relied  on  a  defensive  policy.  The  governor, 
George  Clinton,  —  not  the  ancestor  of  the  Clintons  in 
the  United  States,  but  the  sixth  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Lincoln,  —  had  arrived  in  September,  1743.  He  was 
an  old  sea-dog,  an  ex- admiral,  who  knew  as  much 
about  civil  government  as  one  of  his  powder-monkeys 
on  shipboard.  It  seemed  to  be  the  policy  of  the 
British  Government  to  send  over  decayed  function 
aries  and  politicians  who  were  favourites  at  court,  but 
in  every  way  unfitted  for  the  great  problems  of  state 
in  the  complex  community  whose  borders  were  on 
Canada,  where  French  power  was  intrenched.  Too 
many  of  these  nominees  of  the  Crown  considered  it  to 
be  their  first  duty  to  build  up  their  private  fortune. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  Clinton  —  who  had  probably  been 
5 


66  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

influenced  by  his  fellow-sailor,  Captain  Warren  —  who 
summoned  William  Johnson,  the  trader,  into  public 
life. 

Despite  the  superiority  of  the  British  fleet,  the 
French  moved  more  quickly,  and  were  first  in  Amer 
ica  with  reinforcements.  The  open  water-way  from 
Canada  into  the  heart  of  New  York  was  the  military 
nerve  of  the  continent.  It  made  the  Hudson  and 
Mohawk  Valleys  the  objective  point  of  the  French 
invaders.  The  war,  though  not  yet  declared,  was  to 
last  five  years,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  developed  all  the 
inherent  energies  of  Johnson,  the  young  Irishman,  who 
had  already  shown  powers  of  leadership.  The  mili 
tary  policy  of  the  French  was  to  keep  the  English 
frontier  in  a  state  of  ceaseless  alarm,  by  small  parties 
of  stealthy  savages  striking  their  blows  unexpectedly 
all  along  the  line  from  Oswego  to  Hoosic.  The  story 
of  the  numberless  petty  raids  is  well  told  in  Drake's 
"  Particular  History  ;  "  but  in  some  cases  the  details  are 
now  extant  only  in  written  accounts  found  in  the 
Johnson  papers,  in  church  records,  in  family  Bibles, 
and  on  tombstones  in  Mohawk  Valley  and  in  New 
England. 

Johnson  soon  found  himself  where  the  Robinson 
Crusoe  of  poetry  wished  to  be,  — "  in  the  midst  of 
alarms ; "  but  his  temper  rose  into  the  heights  of  un 
shakable  calm  as  the  dangers  increased.  Invited, 
with  his  wife  and  three  infant  children,  to  come  and 
live  in  Albany  till  the  war  was  over,  he  declined,  and 
remained  at  Mount  Johnson,  losing  no  opportunity  to 
win,  to  keep,  and  to  increase  his  influence  over  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  67 

Iroquois.  His  abilities  and  power  were,  as  we  have 
seen,  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  new  governor,  in 
directly  through  his  uncle,  but  immediately  through 
the  introduction  of  Chief  Justice  De  Lancey,  a  brother 
of  his  uncle's  wife.  In  the  month  of  April,  1745, 
William  Johnson  received  a  commission  as  one  of  the 
justices  of  the  peace  in  the  county  of  Albany,  which 
then  extended  from  Coeymans  to  Herkimer. 

At  this  point  the  strictly  private  life  of  Johnson 
ended,  and  his  political  career  began.  The  situation 
of  Mount  Johnson  was  within  easy  reach  of  all  impor 
tant  places  in  the  province  which  were  likely  to  be 
the  seat  of  war.  An  easy  day's  ride  on  horseback 
would  bring  him  to  Albany,  whence,  by  either  land  or 
water,  the  country  was  opened  northward  to  Crown 
Point,  or  southward  to  New  York.  Thence,  over  a 
cross  route  by  way  of  Saratoga  Springs,  a  strong  man 
well  mounted  could,  by  hard  riding,  reach  Mount 
Johnson  from  the  foot  of  Lake  George  in  a  day  and 
part  of  a  night.  Westward  also,  by  river  or  land 
route,  there  was  easy  access  to  all  the  tribes  of  the 
Long  House  and  to  all  the  Mohawk  Valley  settlements. 

Johnson's  uncle,  Captain  Warren,  had  by  the  cap 
ture  of  a  privateer  distinguished  himself  at  sea,  and 
receiving  promotion  to  the  grade  of  Commodore,  was 
ordered  to  command  the  naval  forces  for  the  reduc 
tion  of  Louisburg.  By  his  energy  and  ability  strict 
blockade  was  maintained  while  the  American  citizen 
soldiery  under  Pepperell  tightened  the  coils  of  in 
vestment.  When  the  "  Vigilante,"  a  French  frigate 
laden  with  reinforcements  in  men  and  provisions,  had 


68  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

been  decoyed  and  captured,  the  fortress  was  surren 
dered.  Warren  became  an  admiral ;  and  Pepperell,  a 
merchant  like  Johnson,  was  made  a  baronet,  —  the 
former  one  day,  the  latter  one  month,  after  receipt  of 
the  news  in  England. 

Chronology  was  in  this  case  a  key  to  English  jeal 
ousy  of  the  colonists,  whose  growing  strength  and 
republicanism  monarchical  Britain  feared.  The  joy  of 
the  Americans  was  excessive.  It  culminated  in  Bos 
ton,  where  "  Louisburg  Square"  still  preserves  the 
name.  The  gladness  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
equalled  the  astonishment,  flavoured  with  jealousy, 
which  fell  upon  Europe.  One  would  have  thought 
that  it  would  salt  wholesomely  the  inborn  contempt 
which  the  regular  officers  of  the  king's  troops  felt  to 
ward  provincial  fighters,  but  it  did  *not ;  and  Brad- 
dock,  Loudon,  Abercrombie,  and  their  foolish  imitators 
were  yet  numerously  to  come.  Indeed,  this  success 
of  provincial  Americans  induced  a  jealousy  that  was 
to  rankle  for  a  generation  or  more  in  British  breasts, 
to  the  serious  disadvantage  of  both  Great  Britain  and 
the  colonies,  as  we  shall  soon  see. 

Meanwhile,  Indian  affairs  were  in  a  critical  con 
dition,  and  the  signs  of  danger  on  the  frontier  were 
ominous.  For  reasons  not  here  to  be  analyzed,  there 
were  bad  feelings  between  the  Iroquois  and  the  Albany 
people.  Rumours  of  the  purpose  of  the  English  to 
destroy  the  Indians  were  diligently  kept  in  circula 
tion  by  both  lay  and  clerical  Frenchmen.  Those  who 
wore  canonicals  and  those  who  wore  regimentals  were 
equally  industrious  in  fomenting  dissatisfaction.  The 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  69 

uneasiness  of  the  Mohawks  was  so  great  that  they  sent 
several  chiefs  to  confer  with  their  brethren,  the  Caugh- 
nawaga  Indians,  in  Canada.  It  was  generally  be 
lieved  that  the  French  would  attack  Oswego.  There 
is  also  evidence  that  attempts  were  made  to  kidnap 
Johnson,  against  whom,  as  a  relative  of  Admiral  War 
ren,  as  one  of  the  captors  of  Louisburg,  and  as  the 
man  who  especially  influenced  the  Iroquois  in  favour 
of  the  English,  the  French  had  an  especial  grudge. 
It  was  known  that  from  the  fort  at  Crown  Point  scalp 
ing  parties  issued  at  intervals ;  but  mere  rumours 
turned  into  genuine  history  when  Longmeadow,  Mas 
sachusetts,  was  attacked  and  burned  by  French  In 
dians.  On  Nov.  17,  1745,  the  poorly  fortified  Dutch 
village  of  Saratoga  on  the  Hudson  was  attacked  by  an 
overwhelming  force  of  over  six  hundred  French  and 
Indians.  After  easy  victory  the  place  was  given  over 
to  the  torch,  and  the  sickening  story  of  the  massacre 
of  Schenectady  was  repeated. 

In  French  civilization  the  priest  and  the  soldier 
always  go  together.  They  are  the  two  necessary  fig 
ures,  whether  in  Corea,  Africa,  Cochin  China,  or 
Canada.  The  soldier,  Marin,  was  in  this  case  led  by 
the  priest,  Picquet.  Besides  the  massacre,  in  which 
thirty  persons  were  killed  and  scalped,  sixty  were 
made  prisoners ;  and  the  whole  fertile  farming  country, 
blooming  with  the  flower  and  fruit  of  industry,  was 
desolated  for  many  miles.  Many  of  the  captives  were 
negroes,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  died  of 
disease  in  the  prisons  of  Quebec.  One  of  the  best 
accounts  of  this  massacre  —  meagre  in  details — is  con- 


70  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

tained  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Johnson  from  Mr.  Sanders,  of 
Albany.  It  was  nine  days  after  this  event  that  John 
son  received  the  urgent  letter  inviting  him  to  move 
for  safety  to  Albany. 

A  line  of  fire  and  blood,  ashes  and  blackness,  was 
now  being  drawn  from  Springfield  to  Niagara,  All 
men  were  under  arms,  and  each  was  called  to  watch 
every  third  night.  No  house  was  safe,  except  pali 
saded  or  built  of  logs  for  defence.  The  forts  were 
repaired  and  garrisoned.  The  bullet  moulds  were 
kept  hot,  and  extra  flints,  ramrods,  and  ammunition 
laid  out  all  ready,  while  weary  sentinels  strained  ear 
and  eye  through  each  long,  dark  night. 

Out  from  the  gateway  of  Crown  Point,  like  centri 
fugal  whirlwinds  of  fire,  swept  bands  of  savages,  who 
swooped  down  on  the  settlements.  Almost  under  the 
shadow  of  the  palisades  of  Albany,  Schenectady,  and 
the  villages  along  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Valleys, 
men  were  shot  and  their  scalps  taken  to  decorate 
Canadian  wigwams.  The  little  "God's  Acre"  in 
every  settlement  on  the  Mohawk  began  to  fatten  with 
victims  who  had  died  out  of  their  beds.  Perhaps  none 
of  these  ancient  sleeping-places  has  been  reverently 
emptied  in  order  to  consign  their  memorials  of  once 
active  life  to  more  enduring  public  honour  in  the 
modern  cemeteries,  but  the  number  of  perforated 
skulls  surprises  the  beholder.  In  these  mute  witnesses 
to  the  disquiet  of  the  past,  he  reads  the  story  of 
ancestral  danger  and  suffering.  The  devout  frontiers 
man  made  his  way  to  church  on  the  Lord's  Day  with 
his  loaded  gun  on  his  shoulder,  its  flint  well  picked 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  71 

and  its  pan  well  primed.  He  took  his  seat  at  the  end 
of  the  pew,  only  after  sentinels  had  been  posted  and 
arms  made  ready  for  instant  use.  Slight  wonder  was 
it  that  the  effects  of  all- night  vigils,  and  the  unusual 
posture  of  repose  in  a  pew,  rather  than  the  length  of 
the  Domine's  sermon,  induced  sleep  even  in  meeting. 

Most  of  the  churches  were  loop-holed  for  defence, 
and  even  in  the  few  old  houses  occasionally  found 
with  projecting  second  floor,  we  see  an  interesting 
survival  of  the  old  days,  when  from  both  church  and 
dwelling  a  line  of  gun-barrels  might  at  any  hour  deco 
rate  the  eaves  with  gargoyles  spouting  fire  and  death. 
Away  from  the  villages,  the  farmers,  building  a  block 
house  on  some  commanding  hill,  and  if  possible  over 
a  well  or  spring,  kept  a  sentinel  on  the  roof  while  they 
laboured  in  the  fields.  Horn  in  hand,  the  watcher 
surveyed  the  wide  stretches  of  valley,  or  scrutinized 
the  edges  of  the  clearing,  to  give  warning  of  the  ap 
proach  of  skulking  red  or  white  murderers.  Yet  hu 
man  nerves  would  weary,  and  after  constant  strain  for 
months  with  no  near  sign  of  danger,  vigilance  would 
often  relax  at  the  very  moment  when  the  enemy 
opened  fire  and  raised  his  yell.  Men  would  laugh  to 
day  at  warnings,  while,  perhaps,  the  boys  in  play 
would  set  up  mock  sentinels  at  the  gateways,  who  on 
the  morrow  would  be  scalped  or  be  bound  and  on 
their  way  to  Canada. 

The  twofold  plan  of  campaign  decided  on  in  Eng 
land  was  the  old  one  first  formulated  by  Leisler  in 
1690,  looking  to  the  invasion  and  subjugation  of 
Canada,  attempted  again  in  1711,  when  a  German 


72  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

regiment  in  New  York  was  raised  for  the  purpose,  and 
which  was  frustrated  by  the  disaster  to  the  British  fleet. 
The  land  and  naval  forces  of  New  and  Old  England 
were  now  to  make  rendezvous  at  Louisburg,  and  move 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Quebec,  while  the  provincial 
militia  of  the  middle  and  lower  colonies,  combined 
with  the  Iroquois  if  possible,  should  capture  the  French 
fort,  St.  Frederick,  at  Crown  Point,  and  the  city  of 
Montreal. 

The  disastrous  inaction  of  King  George  and  the 
London  lords,  arising  probably  from  jealousy  of  the 
provincials,  and  the  rumours  of  a  great  French  fleet 
under  D'Anville  to  be  sent  against  New  England, 
caused  the  abandonment  of  the  expedition  to  Quebec. 
This,  however,  was  not  known  by  submarine  electric 
cable  ;  and  meantime  New  York  politics,  at  which  we 
must  now  glance,  had  become  interesting. 

Two  friends,  the  Chief- Justice  De  Lancey  and  Gov 
ernor  Clinton,  quarrelled  over  their  cups  at  a  convivial 
gathering,  and  this  took  place  just  after  the  latter  had 
renewed  the  former's  commission  for  life.  Happen 
ing,  too,  on  the  eve  of  the  great  council  of  the  Six 
Nations,  which  Clinton  had  summoned  at  Albany,  just 
when  that  town  was  pestiferous  with  small-pox  and 
bilious  fever,  the  outlook  for  successful  negotiations 
was  not  very  promising.  Messrs.  Rutherford,  Livings 
ton,  and  Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden  were  the  only  mem 
bers  of  his  council  who  came  with  Clinton,  while  of 
the  expected  Indians  only  three  had  arrived.  These, 
for  the  two  scalps  with  the  blood  hardly  dried  on  the 
hair,  were  rewarded  with  strouds  and  laced  coats,  and 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  73 

sent  to  drum  up  recruits,  while  the  governor  waited  a 
month  for  the  tardy,  suspicious,  and  sullen  savages  to 
appear  before  him. 

Matters  looked  dark  indeed.  Yet  when  Mohawk 
runners,  despatched  by  Johnson  on  a  scouting  expedi 
tion  to  Crown  Point,  arrived,  bringing  news  of  French 
preparations  for  a  descent  upon  Schenectady  and  the 
Valley,  and  possibly  upon  Albany,  the  governor  was 
unable  to  see  the  imminent  danger.  He  still  waited ; 
he  still  believed  wholly  in  the  defensive  policy,  and 
seemed  satisfied,  because  for  the  fort  on  the  Hudson 
at  Saratoga,  now  Easton,  a  sum  equal  to  about  eight 
hundred  dollars  had  been  voted  by  the  Assembly. 
This  sum  enabled  the  colonial  engineers  to  build  a 
palisade  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  with  six  re 
doubts  for  barracks,  all  of  timber,  and  to  mount  on 
platforms  twelve  cannon  of  six,  twelve,  and  eighteen 
pound  calibre.  In  this  way  the  summer  was  wasted 
in  waiting;  for  the  Indians  came  not,  and  Clinton's 
ambition  to  be  a  powerful  diplomatist  with  the  Indians 
was  for  the  present  baffied. 

Believing  this  was  a  matter  between  French  and 
English  alone,  strongly  inclining  to  neutrality,  and 
diligently  persuaded  thereto  by  the  French  Jesuits,  the 
Iroquois  sulked  at  home.  Not  only  did  they  flatly 
refuse  to  meet  the  governor,  but  some  of  the  chiefs 
went  openly  over  to  the  French. 

Meanwhile  the  white  settlers  were,  according  to 
Johnson's  report,  abandoning  their  farms  along  the 
Mohawk,  and  concentrating  in  the  block-houses  or 
palisaded  towns.  Besides  having  sent  Indian  scouts 


74  SSK    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

to  the  Champlain  country,  Johnson  wrote  urgent  let 
ters  to  Clinton  stating  the  case,  and  asking  him  to 
open  his  eyes  to  the  facts.  To  protect  Johnson's 
stores  of  eleven  thousand  bushels  of  grain,  while 
standing  his  ground,  the  governor  sent  a  lieutenant 
and  thirty  men.  Another  militia  company  was  de 
spatched  to  the  upper  Mohawk  Castle.  Having  done 
these  things,  Clinton,  who  had  as  early  as  the  4th  of 
August  officially  notified  Governor  Shirley  of  Massa 
chusetts  that  he  would  proceed  against  Crown  Point 
with  the  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations,  was  at  his  wits' 
end.  He  had  alienated  Colonel  Schuyler  and  the 
members  of  the  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners, 
mostly  faithful  and  trusted  men  well  known  in  the 
provinces.  In  the  quarrel  of  the  governor  with  De 
Lancey,  these  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the 
chief  justice. 

It  is  too  clumsy  an  attempt  at  explanation  of  the 
difficulty  between  the  king's  agent,  Clinton,  and  the 
Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  to  ascribe  the  causes 
chiefly  or  entirely  to  the  "  rascality  "  of  the  commis 
sioners,  who  "  abused  their  office  for  private  pecula 
tion,"  or  to  the  ambition  of  De  Lancey.  It  is  not 
necessary  in  one  who  appreciates  the  great  abilities  of 
Johnson  to  describe  him  as  a  white  lily  of  honesty  and 
purity.  English  authors,  the  Tory  historians  of  the 
Revolution,  and  the  prejudiced  writers  of  Ameri 
can  history,  who  reflect  their  own  narrowness  and 
sectional  views,  take  delight  in  maligning  the  charac 
ter  of  the  men  of  colonial  New  York  simply  because 
they  were  Dutch.  As  matter  of  unsentimental  fact, 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  75 

there  is  much  to  be  said  on  both  sides.  The  people  of 
New  York  were  not  anxious  to  send  the  Indians  on 
the  war-path,  nor  to  furnish  white  soldiers  to  guard 
their  squaws  and  pappooses  while  they  were  away  from 
their  villages.  They  were  not  at  all  persuaded  of  the 
superior  honesty  either  of  the  governor  or  his  advis 
ers  and  appointees.  The  greater  facts  are  also  clear, 
that  the  New  York  Assembly  was  vigilantly  jealous  of 
the  people's  liberties,  and  was  determined  at  all  haz 
ards  to  limit  the  royal  prerogative  as  far  as  possible. 
Since  his  quarrel  with  De  Lancey,  the  governor  had 
shown  excessive  zeal  in  maintaining  the  rights  of  the 
king.  On  the  other  hand,  most  of  the  steps  neces 
sary  to  make  New  York  an  independent  state  had,  as 
the  British  Attorney-General  Bradlee  declared,  already 
been  taken  by  his  Assembly,  which  of  twenty-seven 
members  had  fourteen  of  Dutch  descent.  These  men 
were  determined  to  teach  the  king's  agent  that  he 
must  bow  to  the  will  of  the  people,  who  were  more 
important  than  king  and  court,  and  make  no  advance 
in  monarchical  ideas.  They  saw  that  the  governor 
was  under  the  close  personal  influence  of  Cadwallader 
Golden,  a  radical  Tory,  who  they  suspected  prepared 
most  of  Clinton's  State  papers  ;  and  they  set  themselves 
in  array  against  this  intermeddler  on  royalty's  behalf. 
Again  the  petty  jealousy  which  burned  steadily  in  all 
the  colonies  made  these  Dutchmen  enjoy  paying  back 
the  New  England  ers  in  their  own  coin  some  of  the  slights 
and  insults  of  the  past.  The  former  had  long  looked 
down  in  contempt  on  the  settlers  of  New  Amsterdam, 
and  their  sons  now  repaid  them  in  kind,  and  were  on 


7  6  SJR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  whole  rather  glad  to  snub  Shirley  and  to  annoy 
Clinton  for  so  deferring  to  the  wishes  of  the  latter. 
Clinton  seemed  lacking  in  tact,  and  was  unable  to 
conciliate  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Indian  Com 
missioners,  who  one  and  all,  led  by  Schuyler,  resigned. 

In  a  word,  Clinton  had  begun  his  administration  by 
trying  to  bully  and  drive  the  Dutchmen.  Now,  those 
who  know  the  men  of  this  branch  of  the  Teutonic  race 
have  always  found  by  experience  that  when  their  hearts 
are  won  they  are  easily  led.  All  attempts  to  drive 
them,  however,  usually  result  as  Alva's  and  Philip's 
plans  resulted  in  the  Netherlands,  where  three  hun 
dred  thousand  Spaniards  were  buried ;  or  as  in  South 
Africa,  where  Dutch  boers  hold  their  own  against 
British  aggression.  It  took  Clinton  some  years  to 
learn  the  lesson,  but  it  was  the  same  experience  of 
failure  and  retreat. 

At  his  wits'  end,  Governor  Clinton  turned  to  the  man 
for  the  hour.  William  Johnson  was  offered  the  ap 
pointment  of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  and  at 
once  accepted.  Thus,  at  thirty- one  years,  opened  in 
full  promise  the  splendid  career  of  the  Irish  adventurer. 

While  no  man  in  the  province  or  continent  com 
prehended  more  clearly  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
no  one  better  understood  all  the  elements  in  the  case, 
the  ground  of  faith  in  the  immediate  improvement 
of  affairs,  and  the  ultimate  supremacy  of  the  British 
cause.  Johnson  was  a  man  of  continental  ideas. 
Without  losing  an  instant  of  time  he  at  once  set  him 
self  to  the  task  of  getting  hold  of  the  chief  men  of  the 
Six  Nations.  He  first  sent  wampum  belts  to  the  Penn- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  77 

sylvanian  Indians  and  the  Esopus  tribe,  asking  their 
co-operation  with  the  Albany  Council.  He  put  on 
Indian  dress,  and  for  weeks  gave  himself  up  to  their 
pastimes.  Sparing  not  paint,  grease,  ochre,  feathers, 
games,  or  councils,  he  arrayed  himself  as  one  of  their 
own  braves.  He  encouraged  them  to  get  up  war- 
dances,  in  order  to  excite  their  martial  spirit.  He  was 
speedily  successful  in  turning  the  tide  of  opinion  in  one 
whole  canton  of  the  Confederacy  in  favour  of  attending 
the  Albany  Convention. 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  Johnson  was 
formally  adopted  into  the  Mohawk  tribe,  made  a  chief, 
and  received  that  name  which  was  ever  afterward  his 
Indian  title.  This  habit  of  the  Iroquois,  of  especially 
and  significantly  naming  prominent  personages,  is  still 
in  vogue.  When  some  Dakota  Indians  visited  Boston 
in  1889,  after  seeing  Charlestown  and  Bunker  Hill 
Monument,  they  called  on  Governor  Brackett,  and 
named  him  the  "  Great  Rock  in  the  Clouds." 

The  title  which  the  Mohawks  gave  their  new  white 
chief  and  leader  in  1 746,  was,  according  to  the  anarchic 
and  unscientific  spelling  of  the  time,  War-ragh-i-yah- 
gey.  The  term  may  be  translated  "  Chief  Director  of 
Affairs."  It  may  with  economy  of  vocables  be  spelled 
Wa-ra-i-ya-ge". 

Other  matters  contributed  to  this  success,  and  util 
ized  the  work  of  others.  Conrad  Weiser,  the  Penn- 
sylvanian  German  interpreter,  had  been  recently 
among  the  tribes  as  far  as  Ohio,  influencing  them  in 
favour  of  the  English.  A  happy  accident  —  the  coming 
of  a  delegation  of  Chickasaws  from  the  West  and 


78  SSfi    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

South  to  invade  Canada,  and  to  invite  the  Senecas  to 
take  part  and  pilot  them  —  awoke  this  most  western 
division  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  to  the  importance 
of  the  accession.  The  simultaneous  offers  of  alliance 
and  aid  by  other  scattered  tribes  led  to  a  complete 
change  of  views.  In  a  word,  the  Senecas  resolved  to 
sit  at  the  Albany  caucus.  With  the  tribes  at  each  end, 
the  west  and  the  east  of  the  Long  House,  thus  in  sub 
stantial  accord,  Johnson  directed  the  Mohawks  to 
send  out  runners  to  the  whole  confederation.  Thus 
the  work  of  winning  over  the  other  few  tribes,  at  least 
so  far  as  attendance  at  Albany  was  concerned,  proved 
to  be  comparatively  easy. 

Even  the  feuds  and  quarrels  which  at  the  time 
divided  the  Long  House  seemed  to  work  for  Johnson's 
fame  and  the  English  cause.  For  some  reason  in 
Iroquois  politics,  occult  to  a  white  man,  the  house 
was  divided  against  itself:  the  Senecas,  Onondagas, 
and  Mohawks  composed  one  great  faction ;  the  Onei- 
das,  Cayugas,  and  Tuscaroras  formed  the  other  and 
weaker.  The  latter  tribe  from  the  Carolinas,  which 
had  joined  the  Confederacy  a  generation  before,  in 
1712,  were  far  from  being  won  over  so  as  to  take  up 
arms  for  the  English.  When  the  fighting  braves  and 
counselling  old  men  came  to  pow-wow  with  the  large 
faction,  the  first  thing  done  by  them  was  to  give  the 
Mohawks,  especially,  a  vigorous  scolding  for  having 
acted  so  presumptuously  and  independently  without 
taking  council  of  the  whole  Confederacy.  After  lively 
debate  and  rejoinder,  it  was  agreed  by  all  to  go  to 
Albany,  but  with  the  river  between  the  factions  on 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  79 

their  journey.  So,  along  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk 
the  delegates  of  the  Confederacy  marched  as  far  as 
Schenectady,  when  quitting  the  river,  the  trail  across 
country  and  to  Norman's  Kill  was  followed.  All  but 
three  of  the  Mohawk  chiefs  had  been  won  to  the 
English  side.  Of  these,  two  of  the  Bear-totem  clan 
lived  at  the  upper  castle  at  Canajoharie,  and  the  third 
of  the  Tortoise-totem  clan  at  the  lower  castle  on  the 
hill  near  Schoharie  Creek.  These  dignitaries  were 
finally  persuaded  by  Rev.  Mr.  Barclay,  then  living 
among  the  Mohawks,  and  the  famous  Dr.  Cadwallader 
Colden,  who  knew  the  Indians  well,  and  later  became 
the  historian  of  the  Six  Nations. 

It  was  a  decisive  moment  in  the  history  of  America 
when  on  the  8th  of  August,  1 746,  the  two  rival  divi 
sions  marched  down  old  Patroon  Street,  the  Clinton 
Avenue  of  to-day,  and  into  State  Street  to  Fort  Fred 
erick.  Leading  the  Mohawk  band  in  all  the  parapher 
nalia  of  Indian  dress  and  decoration,  with  abundant 
ochre  and  plumes,  was  the  pale-faced  man,  Johnson, 
who  could  whoop,  yell,  leap,  dance,  run,  wrestle,  play 
racket,  and  eat  dog-hash  —  drawing  the  line  at  the 
cannibal  feast,  —  with  the  best  champions  in  any  of 
the  six  tribes.  The  double  column  moved  past  Fort 
Frederick,  where  now  stands  the  Episcopal  Church, 
the  Indians  firing  their  guns  and  the  fort  its  ordnance. 
Then  the  gates  of  the  sallyport  swung  open,  and  in 
the  largest  room  of  the  fort  the  red  men  squatted  and 
were  served  with  food. 


80  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER   V. 

A   CHAPTER   IN   THE   STORY   OF   LIBERTY. 

WHEN  the  conference  opened,  August  19,  Dr. 
Cadwallader  took  the  place  of  Governor  Clinton,  who 
was  down  with  fever.  The  two  delegates  from  Massa 
chusetts,  Mr.  Nelles  and  Colonel  Wendell,  were  also 
present,  but  none  from  Connecticut  appeared.  Col- 
den's  speech  was  a  bubble  of  rhetoric,  fairly  dazzling 
with  the  prismatics  of  a  lively  imagination.  It  re 
hearsed  facts,  fancies,  and  prophecies  appropriate  to 
the  situation.  The  colossal  but  purely  mythical 
preparations  supposed  to  be  made  in  Great  Britain, 
in  the  reality  of  which  the  sailor-governor  himself 
heartily  believed,  were  duly  set  forth.  Then  the 
wrongs  suffered  by  the  Indians  at  the  hands  of  the 
"  perfidious  "  French  were  detailed,  until  the  braves 
were  stirred  in  eye  and  nostril,  and  the  chiefs  grunted 
out,  "  Yo-hay  !  yo-hay  !  "  ("  Do  you  hear  !  do  you  be 
lieve  !  "),  and  general  applause  in  Indian  fashion  fol 
lowed  as  the  interpreter  finished  each  sentence.  The 
war  spirit  was  further  roused  by  flatteries  which  fell 
like  oil  on  the  flames,  kindling  the  fiercest  enthusiasm. 
After  the  usual  promises  of  gifts  and  equipment,  with 
assurance  of  reward  and  booty  in  the  future,  the 
orator  wound  up  by  narrating  the  murder  of  some 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  81 

white  men,  their  brothers,  even  since  their  arrival  in 
Albany,  and  calling  upon  his  hearers  for  immediate 
and  permanent  revenge. 

Taking  it  all  in  all,  this  speech  of  Clinton  and  Col- 
den's  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  lies,  false  promises,  and 
irresponsible  assertions  on  which  the  red  man  has 
been  fed,  from  the  first  coming  of  the  whites,  to  the 
battle  with  the  Sioux,  near  Pine  Ridge  Agency,  in 
January,  1891.  The  proper  peroration  of  the  speech, 
according  to  Indian  etiquette,  was  the  casting  down 
of  a  wampum  war-belt  with  verbal  assurances  and  in 
symbolic  intent  that  the  British  would  live  and  die 
with  their  brethren  the  Iroquois.  When  this  was 
done,  a  war-whoop  was  raised  that  must  have  been 
heard  in  every  cabin  and  iron-monogramed  brick- 
house  in  the  colony  and  manor. 

On  that  very  day,  as  was  soon  afterward  learned, 
the  French  were  at  Fort  Massachusetts,1  which  had 
been  built  by  Col.  Ephraim  Williams.  It  stood  in 
the  meadows  east  of  Williamstown,  under  the  shadow 
of  old  Greylock,  beyond  the  present  town  of  North 
Adams.  After  two  days'  siege  the  brave  garrison  sur 
rendered  and  were  led  away  to  Canada.  The  French 

1  I  visited  the  site  of  Fort  Massachusetts,  March  12,  1891. 
Though  long  ago  levelled  by  the  plough,  the  spot  has  been 
marked  by  Prof.  Arthur  Latham  Perry,  of  Williams  College, 
who  planted  the  handsome  elm-tree  which  now  flourishes  there, 
The  sword,  watch,  and  many  other  interesting  relics  of  Colonel 
Williams,  moulded  or  rusted,  from  Fort  Massachusetts,  from 
the  battle-grounds  of  Lake  George,  Bloody  Pond,  and  other 
places  famous  in  colonial  warfare,  are  carefully  preserved  in  the 
college  cabinet.  A  monument  with  the  names  of  the  garrison 
should  mark  the  site  of  Fort  Massachusetts. 
6 


82  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

lost  forty-seven  men.  The  fort  was  afterward,  in 
1747,  rebuilt,  and  was  the  scene  of  more  than  one 
attack  by  the  enemy. 

The  council-fire  was  then  raked  up,  so  that  the 
braves  might  have  time  to  sleep,  smoke,  and  delib 
erate  for  reply.  When  the  council  re-opened  on  the 
24th,  the  governor  was  present,  and  the  first  orator  at 
the  rekindled  fire  was  an  Onondaga  chief,  After  the 
usual  efflorescence  of  forest  rhetoric,  he  promised  in 
the  name  of  the  Seven  Nations  —  a  small  army  of 
eight  hundred  braves  from  Detroit  and  the  Lake 
country,  the  Missesagues,  having  temporarily  joined 
the  confederates  for  the  common  purpose  —  to  dig 
up  the  hatchet  against  the  French  and  their  allies. 
They  further  agreed  to  roast  alive  any  French  priest 
who  came  among  them.  The  next  day  was  devoted 
to  distributing  the  presents  sent  from  the  king  and 
the  governors  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  ;  the  new 
tribe,  Missesagues,  receiving  one  fourth.  On  the  26th 
the  kettle  was  hung  over  the  fire,  and  a  great  war- 
dance  held,  in  which,  after  unusual  smearings  of  paint, 
the  weird,  wild,  and  guttural,  but  pathetic  songs  were 
sung.  After  a  few  private  interviews  with  the  chiefs, 
and  further  tickling  of  their  palms  with  presents  and 
their  stomachs  with  fire-water,  the  council-fire  was  put 
out  by  separation  and  scattering.  Part  of  the  Valley 
Indians  remained  in  Albany,  in  token  of  their  loyalty 
to  the  English,  while  most  of  them  returned  to  their 
castles  to  organize  war-parties.  Unfortunately  an 
epidemic  of  the  small-pox  broke  out  at  this  time  .all 
along  the  Valley,  carrying  off  hundreds  of  the  In- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  83 

dians,  among  whom  were  the  two  delegates  from  the 
Missesagues. 

Other  councils  were  held  with  lesser  bodies  of  In 
dians  ;  and  Johnson,  despite  the  raging  of  the  small 
pox  among  the  Valley  Indians,  endeavoured  to  keep 
the  savages  on  the  war-path  toward  Canada  ;  but  little 
was  accomplished  during  the  summer.  While  the 
coming  French  fleet  was  destroyed  by  storm,  Johnson 
increased  his  fortune  by  being  appointed  government 
contractor  for  Oswego,  and  his  fame  by  being  com 
missioned  by  Clinton  as  Colonel  of  militia.  The  only 
campaign  in  1747  was  one  of  paper  and  ink,  Shirley 
and  Clinton  being  the  chief  combatants.  There  were 
also  raids  and  fights  on  the  New  England  borders,  but 
little  took  place  that  needs  to  be  chronicled  here. 
Clinton  and  De  Lancey  kept  up  their  quarrels ;  the 
former  warning  Johnson  of  his  illustrious  relative, 
venting  his  wrath  on  the  Dutch  legislators,  and  taking 
high-handed  vengeance  on  Judge  Daniel  Horsmanden. 
This  champion  of  the  Assembly  and  people,  and  one 
of  the  ablest  jurists  in  the  province,  was  most  obnox 
ious,  politically,  to  the  king's  representatives.  He  was 
also  personally  offensive  as  being  the  co-worker  with 
Chief- Justice  De  Lancey. 

On  the  1 2th  of  September  Horsmanden  was  sus 
pended  from  service  as  a  member  of  the  council. 
The  fact  was  published  in  the  journal ;  but  no  reason 
was  given  for  this,  except  that  the  governor  an 
nounced  that  he  would  explain  his  action  to  the  king. 
Horsmanden  was  also  removed  from  his  other  posi 
tions, —  as  commissioner  to  meet  the  representatives 


84  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

of  the  other  colonies,  and  as  judge  and  recorder  of 
the  city.  This  act  of  the  governor's  still  further 
irritated  the  "stubborn  Dutchmen,"  whose  hostility 
now  turned  into  a  war  to  the  knife.  Even  though 
savages  were  ravaging  the  suburbs  of  New  York,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  they  would  have  been  turned  from 
their  determination  to  fight  absolutism,  in  the  person 
of  Clinton.  When  the  governor  announced  the  re 
turn  of  Johnson  from  his  fruitless  search  after  the 
enemy  at  Crown  Point,  the  temper  of  the  Assembly 
was  not  improved.  They  were  tired  of  having  the 
praises  of  Johnson  sounded  in  their  ears.  They  still 
refused,  in  the  face  of  Johnson's  contract,  while  still 
in  force,  to  furnish  extra  guards  for  the  fulfilment  of 
his  stipulation  in  provisioning  Oswego.  They  also 
adhered  to  their  determination  not  to  yield  to  the 
governor's  demands,  so  long  as  he  thwarted  their 
purposes.  In  affirming  their  former  resolutions,  they, 
nevertheless,  offered  to  indemnify  Johnson  if  through 
accident  he  became  a  loser  by  fulfilling  his  contract. 

Meanwhile,  the  governor  held  counsel  with  the 
New  England  commissioners,  and  despite  the  remon 
strances  of  the  members,  bluffed  off  his  little  Par 
liament  until  October  5.  The  frontier  was  still 
exposed.  It  was  hard  to  get  volunteers  for  Oswego, 
largely  owing  to  the  abominable  drunkenness  of  the 
officers  there,  and  the  lack  of  good  discipline.  Two 
companies  from  Colonel  Schuyler's  regiment  were 
therefore  drafted  for  the  purpose..  It  being  practi 
cally  impossible  to  maintain  the  weak  force  at  Saratoga, 
this  post,  which  had  been  named  Fort  Clinton,  was 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  85 

burned  by  order,  and  the  ordnance  and  stores  removed 
to  Albany.  In  this  unpleasant  state  of  affairs  Colonel 
Johnson  was  summoned  to  New  York,  and  on  October 
9  was  examined  by  the  committee  of  the  Executive 
Council.  He  exposed  the  grave  state  of  affairs,  in 
that  the  Indians  had  been  kept  from  hunting  for  a 
whole  year,  and  were  now  destitute.  Unless  some 
thing  were  speedily  done,  he  felt  he  must  abandon 
Mount  Johnson  and  his  interests  in  the  Mohawk  Val 
ley.  He  even  imagined  that  his  leaving  would  be  the 
general  signal  for  an  exodus  of  all  the  white  people 
from  the  Mohawk  basin.  He  recommended  the  erec 
tion  of  forts  both  in  the  Seneca  and  the  Oneida  dis 
tricts.  He  believed  that  these  measures,  with  plenty 
of  presents,  and  the  ferreting  out  of  the  miscel 
laneous  rumsellers  who  debauched  the  Indians,  would 
make  safe  the  northern  frontier  and  save  the  colony. 

Clinton's  message  to  the  Assembly,  October  6, 
was  presented  with  high  praises  of  Johnson,  a  vindi 
cation  of  himself,  and  an  exhortation  to  act  promptly 
and  liberally,  as  the  Iroquois  sachems  were  waiting 
with  Johnson  in  the  city  to  see  what  would  be  done 
in  their  behalf.  The  conquest  of  Crown  Point  was 
still  in  view ;  and  men,  money,  and  supplies  were  asked 
for.  It  was  intimated  that  the  Crown  (the  mother 
country)  had  already  done  its  full  part,  and  that  the 
colonies  should  now  do  theirs. 

Still  the  Assemblymen,  who  thought-  the  Indians 
ought  to  have  been  allowed  to  go  on  their  hunting, 
ought  to  have  been  kept  friendly,  but  not  stirred  up 
to  fight  the  French  or  be  sent  to  Canada,  and  ought 


86  Sf£    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

to  have  stayed  in  New  York  to  guard  their  own  old 
men  and  squaws  instead  of  having  white  men  drafted 
to  do  it,  distrusted  the  ser/ant  of  the  king  and  the 
tool  of  Golden,  and  doubted  the  fitness  of  the  gover 
nor's  appointees  to  office.  They  questioned  the  wis 
dom  of  the  governor's  general  policy ;  and  they  inti 
mated,  with  only  too  good  reason,  that  the  money 
so  freely  distributed  for  the  Indians  was  not  properly 
and  publicly  accounted  for.  They  voted  promptly 
all  that  was  necessary  for  the  expedition  against 
Canada.  They  fully  realized  the  necessity  of  hold 
ing  firm  the  loyalty  of  the  Six  Nations;  and  to 
keep  it,  they  offered  at  once  to  vote  the  sum  of 
eight  hundred  pounds,  provided  the  persons  chosen 
to  distribute  the  people's  money  were  such  as  they 
approved  of.  In  regard  to  the  forts  on  the  distant 
frontier,  so  near  Canada,  they  considered  that  the 
other  colonies  should  share  the  expense  of  perma 
nently  guarding  the  king's  dominions. 

In  answer  to  these  defiant  resolutions,  which  practi 
cally  impeached  the  governor,  Clinton  sent  a  curt  and 
insulting  note  of  less  than  one  hundred  words.  The 
Dutchman's  ire  now  blazed  fiercely.  After  the  signi 
ficant  ceremony  of  locking  the  door  and  laying  the 
key  on  the  table,  they  proceeded  to  issue  a  manifesto, 
marshalling  in  review  the  whole  proceedings  since 
June  6, 1 746.  They  censured  him  for  removing  the 
former  commissioners  of  Indian  affairs,  and  for  practi 
cally  making  Dr.  Golden  the  real  administrator  of 
affairs  in  the  cabinet,  and  Colonel  Johnson  in  the 
field.  They  sneered  at  the  pretensions  and  vanity  of 


AND    THE   SIX  NATIONS.  87 

the  governor  in  his  constant  boasting  of  what  he 
claimed  to  have  done.  They  charged  him  with  treat 
ing  the  people  of  the  colony  with  contempt,  and  with 
insulting  them  by  vile  epithets.  They  complained  of 
the  many  brief  and  inconvenient  adjournments  to 
which  he  had  needlessly  subjected  them.  Especially 
were  they  enraged  in  their  feelings  at  the  deference 
paid,  at  their  expense,  to  the  commissioners  from  Mas 
sachusetts  and  Connecticut.  They  claimed  that  they 
ought  to  have  been  kept  in  session,  in  order  that  they 
might  have  been  advised  with,  and  their  opinions  con 
sulted  from  time  to  time  as  to  the  matters  under 
consideration. 

In  this  last  point,  especially,  the  Dutch  blood  was 
roused ;  for  although  in  monarchical  England  the  power 
of  making  treaties  is  vested  in  the  sovereign,  yet  in  the 
Dutch  Republic,  then  a  living  reality  before  their  eyes, 
the  States-General,  like  the  United  States  Senate, 
shared  with  the  Stadtholder  or  President  the  right  of 
treaty-making,  and  had  the  power  of  veto  upon  all 
compacts.  Even  in  Great  Britain,  the  exercise  of  the 
treaty-making  power  by  the  king  was  subject  to  parlia 
mentary  censure,  and  ministers  negotiating  a  disad 
vantageous  treaty  were  liable  to  impeachment.  This 
right  had  been  several  times  exercised  in  the  sixteenth 
and  even  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  address  wound  up  by  this  declaration :  "  No 
treatment  your  Excellency  can  use  toward  us,  no  in 
conveniences  how  great  soever  that  we  may  suffer  in 
our  own  persons,  shall  ever  prevail  upon  us  to  aban 
don,  or  deter  us  from  steadily  preserving  the  interest 
of  our  country." 


88  S7JR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

A  committee  waited  upon  the  governor  on  the  Qth 
of  October,  to  present  the  address ;  but  the  angry 
executive  would  not  hear  it,  nor  receive  a  copy,  and 
three  days  later  replied  with  all  the  artillery  of  rheto 
ric  and  abuse  which  he  and  his  secretary  were  able  to 
load  into  the  document.  It  was  as  full  of  vitupera 
tion  as  a  carronade  of  later  day  was  of  langrage  shot. 
As  to  their  complaint  that  the  money  intended  for  In 
dian  presents  was  not  honestly  distributed,  he  charged 
the  House  with  telling  "  as  bold  a  falsehood  as  ever 
came  from  a  body  of  men."  He  was  in  no  way  ac 
countable  to  the  Assembly  for  the  manner  in  which 
he  distributed  the  money  of  the  Crown.  He  charged 
them  with  violating  both  the  civil  and  military  pre 
rogatives  of  the  king.  "Nor  will  I,"  he  said,  "give 
up  the  least  branch  of  it  [the  military  prerogative] 
on  any  consideration,  however  desirous  you  may  be 
to  have  it,  or  to  bear  the  whole  command."  He 
also  asserted,  with  some  attempt  at  humour,  that  their 
farce  of  locking  the  door  and  placing  the  key  upon 
the  table  —  a  symbolic  act  charging  breach  of  privi 
lege  upon  the  executive  —  was  a  high  insult  to  King 
George's  authority,  and  in  so  far,  an  act  of  disloyalty. 
He  charged  that  they  were  assuming  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  renouncing 
their  subjection  to  the  Crown  and  Parliament.  He 
had  his  Majesty's  express  command  not  to  suffer 
them  to  bring  some  matters  into  the  House,  nor  to 
debate  upon  them ;  and  he  intimated  that  he  had 
a  right  to  stop  proceedings  when  they  seemed  to 
him  improper  or  disorderly.  After  a  tirade  upon 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  89 

their  insolence  and  unbecoming  conduct,  his  perora 
tion  was  a  warning  not  to  infringe  upon  the  royal 
prerogative. 

Safety-valves  having  thus  been  opened  through 
the  ink-bottles,  the  war  of  words  ceased,  and  both 
governor  and  legislators  proceeded  to  diligence  in 
business.  In  expectation  that  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  would  bear  their  quota  of  expense,  the 
governor  was  requested,  October  15,  to  carry  out 
his  plan  of  sending  gunsmiths  and  other  mechanics 
to  live  among  and  assist  the  tribes  of  the  Confeder 
acy  westward  of  the  Mohawks.  Four  days  after, 
however,  news  came  from  England  ordering  the  dis 
banding  of  all  the  levies  for  the  expedition  to  Can 
ada.  This  was  disheartening  alike  to  the  governors 
and  the  people  of  the  colonies  ;  but  some  compromise 
measures  were  amicably  agreed  upon  between  Clinton 
and  the  Assembly. 

Peace,  in  New  York  City  at  least,  seemed  almost 
at  hand,  w,hen  Clinton  again  attempted  folly  in  trying 
to  muzzle  the  press.  The  Assembly  had  ordered 
Parker,  the  public  printer,  to  publish  the  address  and 
remonstrance  of  the  Assembly,  in  which  they  asserted 
the  rights  of  the  people.  The  governor  commanded 
him  to  desist.  Parker  stood  by  the  people  and  their 
Assembly,  as  against  the  king  and  his  foolish  gov 
ernor.  After  Cosby's  ignominious  failure  to  restrain 
the  liberty  of  the  press  by  imprisoning  Zenger,  this 
act  of  Clinton's  seemed  like  that  of  a  madman  or  a 
man  who  had  no  memory.  The  Assembly  ordered 
Parker  to  print  their  manifests,  and  to  furnish  each 


90  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

member  with  two  copies,  "  that  their  constituents 
might  know  it  was  their  firm  resolution  to  preserve 
the  liberty  of  the  press." 

In  a  word,  all  this  wrangle  between  colonial  gov 
ernor  and  Assembly  was  really  the  cause  of  popular 
liberty  against  monarchy,  of  ordered  freedom  under 
law  against  despotism.  It  was  part  of  the  chequered 
story  of  liberty,  in  which  the  people  of  New  York 
were  in  no  whit  behind  those  of  any  of  the  colonies, 
but  rather  led  them.  Clinton,  by  his  blunders,  and 
Golden,  by  his  toryism,  helped  grandly  forward  the 
American  revolution,  while  the  names  of  Parker  and 
Zenger  belong  with  those  of  the  promoters  of  order 
and  freedom.  When  on  the  25th  day  of  November, 
1747,  —  significant  date,  for  on  that  day,  only  thirty- 
six  years  later,  King  George's  troops  and  mercena 
ries  evacuated  that  very  city  of  New  York,  in  which 
Clinton  had  illustrated  the  folly  of  monarchy,  —  after 
addressing,  or  rather  berating,  the  people's  represen 
tatives,  he  concluded  his  address  with  the  significant 
words :  — 

"  Your  continued  grasping  for  power,  with  an  evi 
dent  tendency  to  the  weakening  of  the  dependency 
of  the  province  on  Great  Britain,  accompanied  by  such 
notorious  and  public  disrespect  to  the  character  of 
your  governor,  and  contempt  of  the  king's  authority 
intrusted  with  him,  cannot  longer  be  hid  from  your  su 
periors,  but  must  come  under  their  observation,  and  is 
of  most  dangerous  example  to  your  neighbours." 

It  was,  indeed,  true  that  New  York  was  setting 
what  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  Tories  a  most  dangerous 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  91 

example  to  her  neighbours.  Most  of  the  people  of 
this  colony  were  descendants  of  those  who  had  come 
from  the  Dutch  Republic,  where  the  taxation  without 
consent  had  been  resisted  for  centuries,  and  where 
resistance  to  monarchy  and  feudal  ideas  had  been  ex 
alted  into  a  principle.  It  was  this  determined  spirit, 
reinforced  by  the  lovers  of  liberty,  whether  of  Hugue 
not,  Irish,  Scottish,  or  Welsh  blood,  or  men  from  the 
mother  country  who  believed  that  the  rights  of  Eng 
lishmen  were  still  theirs,  that  made  New  York  lead  all 
the  thirteen  original  colonies  in  outgrowing  the  colo 
nial  spirit.  New  Yorkers  first  took  the  steps  which 
must  logically  and  actually  lead  to  separation  from 
the  transatlantic  country,  whose  language  was  indeed 
spoken  in  America,  but  by  colonists  who  had  con 
tinued  the  institutions  not  of  monarchical  England, 
but  of  republican  Holland. 


92  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A   TYPICAL    FRONTIER    FIGHT   WITH    INDIANS. 

To  reorganize  the  demoralized  militia  of  the  north 
ern  counties,  Governor  Clinton  in  November  offered 
the  command  of  the  entire  frontier  to  Johnson,  who 
after  due  consideration  accepted.  Besides  having  the 
confidence  of  the  people,  among  whom  he  was  per 
sonally  popular,  Johnson,  being  backed  by  the  Exe 
cutive  Council,  was  able  to  do  the  work  expected  of 
him,  and  bring  about  much  needed  reform,  especially 
in  improving  the  quality  of  the  officers  and  the  gen 
eral  discipline.  The  able-bodied  men  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley,  mostly  Dutch  and  German,  with  a  few  English, 
Irish,  and  Scots,  were  organized  into  nine  companies 
of  militia.  Each  village  or  settlement  had  its  com 
pany  of  one  hundred  men,  the  most  westward  being 
at  German  Flats.  Schenectady  had  two  companies, 
and  at  Albany  there  were  several ;  while  all  the  farm 
ers  living  in  the  open  country,  between  forts  or  pali 
saded  villages,  were  likewise  enrolled. 

Johnson's  wealth  as  farmer,  fur-trader,  army-con 
tractor,  and  salaried  officer  was  now  steadily  increasing. 
Even  the  victualling  of  Oswego  ceased  to  be  a  losing 
enterprise,  since  the  Assembly,  in  February,  1 748, 
voted  two  hundred  pounds  to  reimburse  him  for  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  93 

extraordinary  charges  to  which  he  had  been  put.  The 
same  Assembly,  however,  voted  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  to  Mr.  Horsmanden,  whom  Clinton  had  arbi 
trarily  deposed  from  the  Council,  and  also  appointed 
an  agent  to  reside  in  London  to  represent  them  and 
act  with  them  and  for  the  people  against  the  governor. 
In  this  the  Dutch  legislators  were  following  a  prece 
dent  which  their  fathers  had  established,  in  having 
agents  to  represent  them  to  the  States-General  in 
Holland,  and  which  they  continued  under  English 
rule,  when  they  sent  Peter  Stuyvesant  to  the  Court  of 
King  Charles  II.  in  1667. 

The  expedition  to  Canada  being  wholly  given  up,  it 
was  necessary  to  conciliate  the  Indians  with  presents. 
In  April,  Johnson  set  out  to  Onondaga,  the  central 
council-fire  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  to  meet  the 
delegates  of  all  the  tribes,  in  order  to  ascertain  their 
temper  and  invite  them  to  a  great  council  at  Albany. 
His  other  purposes  in  going  were  to  circumvent  the 
schemes  of  Joncaire  the  French  Jesuit,  and  talk  the 
Indians  into  giving  their  permission  to  have  forts 
erected  in  their  country.  As  usual,  he  was  not  too 
squeamish  in  the  use  of  means  to  accomplish  his  pur 
pose.  He  wrote  from  Albany,  April  9,  1748,  to 
Captain  Catherwood  :  "  I  shall  leave  no  stone  unturned 
to  accomplish  what  I  go  at,  either  by  fair  or  foul 
means  ;  for  if  they  are  obstinate  —  I  mean  the  Onon- 
dagas  —  I  shall  certainly  talk  very  harsh  with  them, 
and  try  what  that  will  do." 

Leaving  Mount  Johnson  with  a  guard  of  fifty  men, 
with  Captain  Thomas  Butler  and  Lieutenant  Laurie  as 


94  Sf#    WILLIAM  JOHNSON' 

officers,  he  set  off,  in  bateaux  heavily  laden  with  pres 
ents  and  provisions,  up  the  Mohawk.  To  move  these 
loaded  boats  against  the  current,  by  punting,  pushing, 
pulling,  sailing,  or  floating  their  way  along,  was  slow 
work,  but  was  safely  accomplished.  Some  of  the  In 
dians  had  come  with  pleasant  remembrances  of  the 
courtesy  of  Mount  Johnson.  They  felt  deeply  that 
sort  of  gratitude  which  has  been  defined  as  a  "  lively 
sense  of  favours  to  come."  Having  arrived  some 
days  before,  and  waited  with  attenuated  rations,  they 
were  ravenous  when  Johnson  and  his  stores  arrived 
on  April  24.  After  a  salute  of  fire-arms  and  the 
unfurling  of  a  British  flag,  three  bark  houses  were 
assigned  to  the  company,  while  Johnson  was  escorted 
to  a  large  new  lodge  in  which  the  mats  were  fresh  and 
clean.  That  night  a  feast  was  given  to  the  Indians 
out  of  the  stores  brought,  all  business  being  deferred 
until  next  day. 

With  all  formality  of  pipes  and  tobacco,  splendour 
of  Indian  and  civilized  costume,  the  council  opened 
next  morning.  It  was  a  contest  of  tongues,  and  one 
garrulous  Irishman  was  here  to  enter  the  lists  and 
to  pit  himself,  with  seemingly  interminable  prolixity 
of  speech  and  the  fixed  ammunition  of  Indian  rhetoric, 
against  a  host  of  tireless  tongues.  With  plenty  of  talk 
to  fill  their  ears  and  abundance  of  good  things  to 
tickle  their  stomachs,  Johnson  succeeded  in  strength 
ening  the  covenant  of  Corlaer ;  and  the  issue  of  the 
council  was,  on  the  whole,  all  that,  even  to  Johnson, 
could  be  expected.  In  reporting  results,  Johnson  sug 
gested  to  the  governor  that  proper  regulation  of  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  95 

sale  of  rum  among  the  Indians  was  the  first  thing  to 
be  considered. 

Clinton,  while  happy  in  knowing  that  the  Iroquois 
would  come  to  the  Albany  council,  was  brooding  over 
the  tendency  everywhere  manifest  in  the  colonies  to 
assert  their  independence.  Johnson's  full  report  of 
the  tongue-victory  at  the  Onondaga  council  was  laid 
before  the  Assembly,  June  2 1 .  The  governor  added, 
that  to  hold  the  Indians  loyal  to  the  English  it  would 
be  necessary  to  prosecute  the  expedition  against  Crown 
Point,  and  at  once  make  arrangements  for  exchange 
of  prisoners.  In  this  latter  suggestion,  and  with  that 
recommending  a  severe  enactment  against  rumsellers, 
the  Assembly  at  once  concurred.  A  few  days  after 
came  news  of  the  treaty  of  peace  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Johnson,  by  unremitting  exertion,  had  succeeded  in 
securing  the  largest  attendance  of  Indians  that  had 
ever  assembled  in  Albany.  They  came  from  all  the 
tribes  of  the  Confederacy  and  from  the  lake  region 
westward,  besides  remnants  of  New  England  and  Hud 
son  River  Indians.  Many  of  these  Indians  had  never 
seen  a  civilized  town,  and  greatly  enjoyed  the  regular 
meals  and  other  comforts  of  civilization,  while  inter 
ested  in  studying  houses  with  chimneys,  carpets,  glass 
windows,  and  other  things  unknown  to  forest  life. 
Great  preparations  had  been  made  to  receive  them 
and  to  keep  them  in  the  best  of  humour.  What  with 
the  clerks,  quartermasters,  interpreters,  and  others  of 
the  official  class,  the  militia  and  the  citizens,  the  farm 
ing  folk  who  had  flocked  into  the  city  to  see  the 
sights,  in  addition  to  villagers  from  the  region  around, 


96  SIX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Albany  had  never  before  beheld  so  large  a  population, 
nor  shown  such  picturesque  activity  in  her  streets.  In 
the  oldest  city  in  any  of  the  colonies  north  of  the 
municipality  on  Manhattan  Island,  these  few  days  in 
the  month  of  July  were  long  remembered. 

The  eighteenth  day  of  July  had  come ;  and  all  the 
Indians  expected,  hundreds  in  number,  had  already 
arrived,  and  were  beginning  to  think  "  Brother  Cor- 
laer  "  was  as  dilatory  as  his  war  operations  had  all  along 
been.  Governor  Shirley  and  the  Massachusetts  com 
missioners,  however,  had  come ;  and  all  lay  down  at 
night  expecting  the  great  palaver  would  be  but  a  day 
or  two  off.  But  before  Clinton  was  to  arrive,  they 
wrere  to  learn  how  near  the  enemy  was  even  at  that 
moment. 

In  the  evening  exciting  news  was  brought  them 
from  Schenectady.  A  battle  had  been  fought  between 
a  party  of  Canadian  Indians  and  the  militia  and  vil 
lagers  just  beyond  Schenectady,  in  which  twenty  whites 
had  been  killed  and  a  number  taken  prisoners.  The 
drums  at  once  beat  to  quarters,  and  Captain  Chew  with 
one  hundred  militiamen  and  two  hundred  of  the  In 
dians,  told  off  from  those  in  convention,  marched  at 
once  in  pursuit.  The  Indians  from  Albany  expected 
to  head  off  the  raiders,  and  hence  went  along  the 
usual  trails  to  Canada ;  but  this  time  the  Canada 
savages  had  retreated  along  the  Sacandaga  road  and 
creek,  "  by  a  different  road  from  what  they  used 
to  go,"  as  Onnasdego,  an  Onondaga  sachem,  said  to 
Clinton  in  his  oration  a  few  days  afterward.  John 
son  remained  in  Albany  attending  to  his  horde  of 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS  97 

guests ;  while  Captain  Chew  and  his  band  made  vain 
pursuit.  On  the  22d,  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the 
council,  he  received  a  letter  from  Albert  Van  Slyck, 
dated  "  Schonaictaiday,  July  2ist,  1 749,"  giving  a  brief 
detail  of  the  bloody  affray.  Van  Slyck  was  an  honest 
Dutch  farmer,  whose  defective  powers  in  English  com 
position  were  in  contrast  with  his  courage ;  and  his 
Dutch-English  account  is  difficult  to  make  certain 
sense  of,  especially  in  its  blotted,  time-stained,  and 
torn  condition  in  the  Johnson  manuscripts  at  Albany ; 
but,  except  some  entries  in  the  family  Bibles  of  peo 
ple  in  or  near  the  town,  this  is  the  only  known  con 
temporaneous  writing  by  one  who  was  in  the  fight. 
It  is  not  mentioned  even  in  Parkman's  "  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe,"  nor  in  the  colonial  or  more  recent  histories,  ex 
cept  Drake's,  though  sometimes  referred  to  inaccurately. 

Further,  it  was  difficult,  until  1 752,  for  an  intelligent 
Hollander  or  American  of  Holland  descent,  whose  an 
cestors  since  1581  had  adopted  the  calendar  of  Chris 
tendom  to  keep  the  run  of  English  chronology,  which 
was  eleven  days  behind  the  rest  of  the  world.  For 
over  a  century  and  a  half,  England  was  very  much  in 
the  condition  of  Russia  of  the  present  day,  as  com 
pared  with  the  rest  of  Europe.  The  English  used 
"  the  old  style,"  or  the  calendar  of  Julius  Caesar,  while 
the  continental  nations  made  use  of  the  modern  or 
Gregorian  calendar.  It  may  be  that  this  explains 
why  Van  Slyck  dated  his  letter  one  year  ahead,  1 749, 
instead  of  1748. 

Van  Slyck's  letter  describes  an  event  which  for  a 
generation  formed  a  leading  topic  at  the  evening  fire- 

7 


98  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

sides  of  the  people  of  Schenectady,  and  of  many  in 
Connecticut.  The  tremendous  loss  in  men,  chiefly 
heads  of  families,  that  fell  upon  this  frontier  town  is 
almost  unknown  to  history ;  yet  the  fight  at  Beechdale 
was  one  of  the  most  stubbornly  contested  little  battles 
of  the  Old  French  War.  Instead  of  being  "  an  au 
tumnal  foray"  upon  a  party  of  woodmen,  it  was  a 
stand-up,  hand-to-hand  fight  by  the  Schenectady  men 
against  savages  who  were  consummate  ambuscaders, 
and  well  versed  in  all  the  arts  of  woodcraft  and  the 
tricks  most  likely  to  confound  raw  militiamen. 

The  battle-field  lies  on  the  Toll  Farm,  three  miles 
west  of  Schenectady,  and  is  visible  from  the  car- win 
dows  to  the  right  of  a  train  on  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  going  westward.  A  company  of  Schenectady 
men  were  at  Maalwyck,  a  place  not  far  from  the  town, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  Messrs.  Dirk  Van 
Voast  and  Daniel  Toll,  with  Toll's  negro  slave,  Ryck- 
ert,  left  their  comrades  to  find  their  horses  which  had 
strayed  off.  A  few  minutes  after  they  had  left,  firing 
was  heard  in  the  direction  in  which  they  had  gone,  by 
the  Van  Slyck  brothers,  Adrian  and  Albert,  one  of 
whom  was  afterward  in  the  fight  and  wrote  the  mea 
gre  account  which  is  now  among  the  Johnson  papers. 
They  at  once  sent  a  messenger,  their  negro  slave,  to 
Schenectady  to  give  the  alarm,  which  was  doubtless 
sounded  out  from  the  belfry  of  the  strong  fortress- 
church  by  the  Widow  Margarita  Veeder,  the  klok- 
luyer  or  bell-ringer  at  that  time.  The  summons 
came  first  before  noon.  The  negro  delivered  his 
message,  bidding  the  men  go  out  to  Abraham  De 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  99 

Graaf  s  house  at  Beukendal,  where  Van  Slyck  would 
meet  them. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  company  of  New  England 
militia  in  the  town  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Stoddard,  who  was  then  absent,  his  place  being  filled 
by  Lieut.  John  Darling.  The  militiamen  were  from 
Connecticut,  and  were  raw  levies  unused  to  Indian 
warfare.  They  started  off  accompanied  by  five  or  six 
young  men  and  Daniel  Van  Slyck,  another  brother  of 
the  writer.  The  party  numbered  about  seventy  men 
in  all.  Another  company  of  armed  men,  whose  num 
ber  is  not  stated,  left  for  the  scene  of  conflict  a  few 
minutes  later,  to  see  if  they  could  find  or  see  Daniel 
Toll. 

Toll  and  Van  Voast,  after  leaving  the  Van  Slycks  at 
Maalwyck,  had  reached  a  place  two  miles  away,  near 
the  house  of  De  Graaf,  and  called  in  Dutch,  Poopen- 
daal,  or  later,  Beukendal  or  Beech  Dale.  Within  or 
beyond  the  dale,  was  a  well-known  place  on  hard 
clayey  soil,  full  of  deer-licks  at  which  the  deer  used  to 
come  to  lick  the  salt.  At  this  kleykuil,  or  clay-pit,  the 
two  men  imagined  they  heard,  about  ten  o'clock,  the 
sound  of  horses'  hoofs  stamping  on  the  hard  ground, 
but  with  a  regularity  that  seemed  very  suspicious. 
Approaching  warily  nearer,  they  discovered  that  the 
noise  came  from  a  party  of  Indians  playing  quoits. 
Almost  as  soon  as  the  two  white  men  came  in  sight, 
they  were  fired  on  by  the  savages,  who  had  seen  their 
coming.  Toll  was  instantly  killed,  and  Van  Voast 
was  wounded  and  made  prisoner.  The  black  man, 
Ryckert,  fled  toward  Schenectady. 


100  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON- 

The  wily  savages  now  prepared  to  ambuscade  the 
party  which  they  knew  would  soon  appear  from  Sche- 
nectady.  For  this  purpose  they  laid  a  sensational  trap 
in  a  field,  somewhat  off  from  the  path  and  in  a  defile 
near  the  creek,  which  was  surrounded  with  forest  and 
bush.  Taking  the  dead  body  of  Mr.  Toll,  they  set  it 
up  against  a  fence  and  tied  a  live  crow  in  front  of  the 
corpse.  This  curious  sight  of  a  wild  crow  flying  up 
and  down  before  an  apparently  living  man  they  knew 
would  at  once  excite  the  attention,  especially  of  the 
impulsive  and  unwary  young  men  who,  as  they  sup 
posed,  would  be  the  first  on  the  field.  The  sequel 
proves  they  were  not  disappointed. 

Lieutenant  Darling  and  his  Connecticut  men 
marched  out,  cautiously  searching  for  the  enemy,  but 
seeing  no  trace  of  any.  At  Mr.  Simon  Groot's  unoc 
cupied  house  they  found  Adrian  Van  Slyck,  who  with  a 
few  men  had  arrived  and  learned  from  the  negro  boy 
Ryckert,  that  his  master,  Mr.  Toll,  had  been  shot. 
Though  nearly  paralyzed  with  fear,  he  offered  to 
point  out  the  place  where  he  fell.  The  negro  was 
furnished  with  a  horse,  and  acted  as  pilot  to  the  ad 
vance  party  of  about  forty  men.  Soon  after  they 
had  gone,  Ackes  Van  Slyck  arrived  and  remained 
with  his  men  near  the  house. 

Pretty  soon  the  strange  phenomenon  of  a  crow  play 
ing  near  a  man  arrested  their  attention,  and  they  at 
once  marched  into  the  trap  to  see  the  curious  sight. 
Very  soon  they  discovered  that  the  man  was  a  corpse, 
and  the  crow  was  tied  to  it  with  a  string.  At  this  mo 
ment  when  nearly  all  were  in  the  defile  along  the  creek, 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  IO1 

and  off  their  guard,  the  crash  of  the  enemy's  guns 
enlightened  them  as  to  the  situation.  They  found 
themselves  in  a  ravine  or  hollow  curved  like  a  horse 
shoe,  and  nearly  surrounded  on  both  sides  by  woods, 
from  which  puffs  of  white  smoke  and  flashes  of  fire 
were  issuing  from  unseen  enemies.  Eight  or  ten  of 
the  whites  were  at  once  stretched  dead  on  the  clay 
ground,  and  then  the  yelling  savages  leaped  out  of 
cover  with  knife  and  hatchet. 

The  militiamen  soon  broke  and  ran,  but  the  Sche- 
nectady  men  bravely  stood  their  ground.  It  took  a 
moment  to  deliver  their  fire,  and  then  with  musket 
clubbed  or  thrown  aside,  the  fighting  became,  for  a 
few  minutes,  a  series  of  desperate  encounters  between 
white  and  red  man,  in  which  it  happened  more  than 
once  that  both  buried  their  knives  in  each  other. 
After  the  battle  the  bodies  of  Glen,  De  Graaf,  and 
other  noted  Indian  fighters  were  found  alongside  their 
dead  enemies  with  whom  they  had  wrested  in  deadly 
struggle.  In  this  hand-to-hand  fight  twelve  of  the 
party  of  whites  were  killed,  and  five  made  prisoners ; 
Lieutenant  Darling's  company  losing  seven  men,  who 
were  shot  dead,  and  six  missing. 

Adrian  Van  Slyck  and  a  company  of  New  York 
militiamen  now  reached  the  scene,  where  the  little 
band  of  whites  were  found  behind  trees  and  stumps 
holding  the  enemy  at  bay ;  Lieutenant  Darling  having 
been  killed  at  the  first  fire,  Ackes  Van  Slyck  was  di 
recting  the  fight.  No  sooner  had  the  New  York 
reinforcements  got  into  the  line  of  Indian  fire,  than 
they  all  fled  in  the  most  cowardly  manner.  Adrian 


102  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Van  Slyck  and  the  two  or  three  Schenectady  men 
who  stood  by  him  in  this  part  of  the  field  were  shot 
down. 

The  rest  of  the  original  party  of  whites  now  retreated 
out  through  the  western  entrance  of  the  vale,  and 
joined  by  Albert  Van  Slyck  and  a  few  men  from 
the  village,  reached  the  house  of  Abraham  De  Graaf 
near  by.  This  substantial  edifice  —  still  standing,  but 
used  as  a  dried-apple  bleacher  when  the  writer  visited 
it  —  was  not  then  occupied,  but  was  new  and  strong, 
and  stood  on  commanding  ground.  The  fact  of  its 
being  empty  shows  the  condition  of  affairs ;  the  peo 
ple  who  lived  in  isolated  farm-houses  being  at  this 
time  gathered  almost  wholly  in  palisaded  villages  or 
other  fortified  places. 

Hastily  entering,  they  barred  the  door,  and  reach 
ing  the  second  story,  tore  off  all  the  boards  near  the 
floor  and  eaves,  and  prepared  for  a  stubborn  de 
fence.  With  their  keen  marksmanship  they  kept  the 
enemy  at  bay,  completely  baffling  the  savages,  who 
peppered  the  house  in  vain.  While  this  siege  was 
going  on,  the  two  Indian  lads  left  in  charge  of  Dirk 
Van  Voast,  eager  to  see  the  fight,  tied  their  prisoner 
to  a  tree,  and  climbing  up  the  slope  of  the  ravine, 
became  absorbed  in  the  firing.  Van  Voast  succeeded 
in  reaching  his  knife,  cut  the  thongs  binding  him, 
and  ran  off  to  Schenectady,  meeting  another  squad  of 
armed  men  from  the  village  hastening  to  the  scene. 
These  were  led  by  Jacob  Glen,  and  Albert  Van  Slyck, 
the  writer  describing  the  event. 

Van  Slyck  had  hoped  to  gather  enough  men  to  get 


AND    THE  SIX  ACTIONS.  103 

out  and  surround  the  Indians  so  as  to  capture  the 
whole  band ;  but  Garret  Van  Antwerp,  fearing  lest  the 
town  would  be  left  without  a  garrison  in  case  of  attack, 
would  suffer  no  more  to  leave  the  palisades.  How 
ever,  this  last  reinforcement  reached  the  battle-ground 
in  time  to  drive  off  the  savages,  who  were  fighting  the 
previously  sent  party  from  behind  trees,  and  to  save 
the  bodies  of  Adrian  Van  Slyck  and  the  dead  men 
near  .him  from  being  scalped  and  stripped.  Seeing 
this  last  party  approaching,  the  savages  drew  off,  re 
treating  up  the  Sacandaga  road.  All  the  whites,  in 
cluding  the  last  comers,  the  scattered  out-door  fighters 
behind  trees,  and  the  little  garrison  in  the  house,  now 
united.  They  proceeded  at  once  to  count  up  their 
loss,  and  to  gather  up  the  dead  men  and  load  them  on 
wagons  for  burial  in  Schenectady. 

What  the  loss  of  the  Indians  was  in  this  battle,  as 
in  most  others,  the  white  men  were  never  able  to  find 
out.  Except  at  the  scene  of  the  first  firing  and  am 
buscade,  Indian  corpses  were  not  visible.  The  first 
purpose  of  the  redskins,  as  soon  as  the  opening  fury 
of  battle  slackened,  was  to  conceal  their  loss.  To  run 
out  from  cover,  even  in  the  face  of  the  fire,  and  draw 
away  the  corpses  of  their  friends,  was  their  usual  habit, 
and  to  this  they  were  thoroughly  trained.  Exposure 
in  such  work  was  more  cheerfully  borne  than  in  regu 
lar  combat,  though  usually  the  dead  body  was  reached 
by  cautious  approach,  and  with  as  much  conceal 
ment  as  possible  in  the  undergrowth.  A  noose  at 
the  end  of  a  rope  was  skilfully  thrown  over  the  head 
of  the  corpse,  and  the  end  of  the  rope  carried  back 


104  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

into  cover.  As  skilfully  as  a  band  of  medical  stu 
dents  or  resurrectionists  can  put  a  hook  under  the 
chin  of  a  corpse  and  hoist  it  up  from  under  the 
coffin-lid  half  sawed  off,  the  savages  in  ambush  would 
draw  the  body  of  their  fallen  comrade  out  of  sight, 
to  be  quickly  concealed  or  buried.  Indian  fighters 
often  told  stories  of  dead  men  apparently  turning 
into  snakes  and  gliding  out  of  sight.  Owing  to  this 
habit  of  the  Indians,  it  was  very  difficult  to  arrive 
at  the  exact  execution  done  by  the  white  man's 
fire.  As  most  of  the  Schenectady  men  were  trained 
Indian  fighters,  the  loss  of  the  savages  was  probably 
great. 

This  was  a  sad  day  for  Schenectady.  One  third 
of  the  white  force  engaged  were  dead  or  wounded. 
Twenty  corpses  —  twelve  of  them  Schenectady  fathers, 
sons,  or  brothers,  and  eight  Connecticut  men  —  were 
laid  on  the  floor  of  a  barn,  near  the  church,  which 
is  still  standing.  The  sorrowing  wives,  mothers,  and 
sisters  came  to  identify  the  scalped  and  maimed 
dear  ones.  Thirteen  or  fourteen  men  were  missing, 
while  the  number  of  wounded  was  never  accurately 
known.  In  the  Green  Street  burying-ground,  east  of 
the  "Old  Queen's  Fort,"  the  long  funeral  procession 
followed  the  corpses,  while  Domine  Van  Santvoord 
committed  dust  to  dust. 

Many  are  the  touching  traditions  of  sorrow  con 
nected  with  this  "Beukendal  massacre."  So  it,  in 
deed,  appeared  to  the  people  of  Schenectady,  because 
of  so  many  of  their  prominent  men  thus  suddenly 
slain.  To  them  it  was  in  some  sense  a  repetition  of 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  105 

the  awful  night  of  Feb.  8,  1690.  Yet,  instead  of 
its  being  a  massacre,  it  was  a  stand-up,  hand-to- 
hand  fight  in  Indian  fashion,  and  a  typical  border- 
battle.  In  the  superb  and  storied  edifice  of  "  The 
First  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  Schenec- 
tady,  in  the  county  of  Albany," — so  called  in  the  old 
charter  given  by  King  George  II.,  and  so  rich  in 
the  graphic  symbols  of  "the  church  in  the  Nether 
lands  under  the  Cross,"  as  well  as  of  local  history,  — 
a  tablet  epitomizing  the  history  of  the  church  in  its 
five  edifices  was  set  in  its  niche  after  the  two  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  church,  cele 
brated  June  21,  1880.  It  is  "  in  pitiful  remembrance 
of  the  martyrs  who  perished  in  the  massacres  of  Feb 
ruary  pth,  1690,  and  July  i8th,  1748."  From  the 
rear  church  window  one  may  still  look,  in  1891,  on 
the  barn  on  the  floor  of  which  the  bodies  were  brought 
and  laid  for  identification  on  the  day  when  the  sturdy 
Dutch-American  Albert  Van  Slyck  signed  his  letter 
to  "  Coll.  William  Johnson  at  Albany,"  "your  Sorrow- 
full  and  Revengfull  friend  on  those  Barbarous  Enemys, 
and  am  at  all  Times  on  your  Command." 

Clinton,  accompanied  by  his  satellite,  Dr.  Colden, 
and  some  other  members  of  his  council,  arrived  in 
Albany,  July  20.  The  next  day,  after  those  neces 
sary  ceremonies  to  which  the  Indians  are  as  great 
bond-slaves  as  their  civilized  brethren,  the  council 
fairly  opened.  A  great  palaver  ensued,  and  talk  flowed 
unceasingly  for  hour  after  hour,  until  many  ears 
needed  rest  even  more  than  the  few  busy  tongues. 
The  governor  wound  up  his  long  address  by  refer- 


106  SJK    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

ring  to  the  battle  of  Beukendal,  so  recent  and  so 
near  by. 

After  three  days  of  smoke  and  thought,  a  wordy 
warrior  from  Onondaga  replied  for  the  Confederacy 
in  prolix  detail.  The  day  was  closed  with  a  dance 
by  the  young  braves,  and  the  king's  health  was  drunk 
in  five  barrels  of  beer. 

On  the  following  day  the  River  Indians  spoke, 
expressing  gratitude  for  favours  past,  and  asserting 
that  if  they  had  been  present  when  news  of  the  Sche- 
nectady  battle  reached  Albany,  they  would  have 
cheerfully  joined  in  pursuit,  even  to  the  gate  of  Crown 
Point. 

By  this  time  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  suppress 
the  news  of  peace  in  Europe,  and  the  poor  savages 
who  had  been  goaded  into  digging  up  the  hatchet  and 
neglecting  their  hunting,  and  who  were  thirsting  for 
revenge,  were  now  left  in  the  lurch,  and  told  to  go 
quietly  home.  Nevertheless,  most  of  the  colonists 
were  satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  council,  and.  John 
son's  popularity  increased.  The  Iroquois  were  pleased 
when  they  found  that  both  Shirley  and  Clinton  were 
about  to  send  back  all  the  French  prisoners  to  Can 
ada,  and  to  ask  for  the  return  of  both  the  white,  red, 
and  black  captives,  who  had  been  carried  away  from 
their  homes  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Lieutenant  Stoddard  and  Captain  Anthony  Van 
Schaick  went  to  Canada,  and  into  the  Indian  country ; 
but  their  success  was  not  gratifying.  Only  twenty- 
four  prisoners  accompanied  Lieutenant  Stoddard 
when  he  left  Canada,  June  28,  1750.  The  white  boys 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  107 

and  girls  who  had  nearly  or  wholly  forgotten  their 
old  home  and  kin,  and  had  been  adopted  into  the 
tribes,  declined,  or  were  forced  to  decline,  going 
back.  Occasionally  white  women  had  abjured  their 
religion,  and  in  other  cases  the  red  squaws  threat 
ened  sure  death  to  the  adopted  captives  should  they 
try  to  return,  even  at  the  French  governor's  orders. 
With  the  Indians,  however,  exchange  was  more  easy, 
though  the  savages  were  unable  to  understand  the  de 
lays  of  diplomacy  between  Clinton  and  Gallissoniere ; 
and  to  pacify  them,  Johnson  was  often  at  his  wits' 
end.  However,  by  his  personal  influence,  by  visits  of 
condolence,  by  social  participation  in  their  games  and 
feasts,  by  persistent  patience,  public  eloquence,  pri 
vate  persuasion,  and  the  frequent  use  of  money  and 
other  material  gifts,  he  won  fresh  laurels  of  success. 
In  spite  of  the  diplomacy  of  La  Gallissoniere,  the 
ceaselessly  active  Jesuit  priests,  French  cunning  and 
strategy  on  the  one  hand,  and  English'  and  Dutch 
weakness  and  villany  on  the  other,  he  held  the  whole 
Iroquois  Confederacy  loyal  to  the  British  Crown.  The 
greatness  of  Johnson  is  nobly  shown  in  thus  foiling 
the  French  and  all  their  resources. 

This  year,  amid  manifold  commercial,  military,  and 
domestic  cares,  he  entertained  the  famous  Swedish 
botanist,  naturalist,  and  traveller,  Peter  Kalm,  with 
whose  name  the  evergreen  plant  Kalmia  is  associated. 
He  had  come  at  the  suggestion  of  Linnaeus  to  inves 
tigate  the  botany  and  natural  history  of  North  Amer 
ica.  He  arrived  at  Fort  Johnson  with  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Colden,  who  was  as  fond  of  physical  science  as  he 


108  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

was  of  his  Toryism.  After  dispensing  courtly  hospi 
tality,  Johnson  furnished  him  with  a  guide  to  Oswego 
and  Niagara,  and  a  letter  to  the  commandant  at  the 
former  place.  Kalm's  "Voyage  to  North  America " 
was  translated  and  published  in  London  in  1777,  and 
the  map  accompanying  it  is  of  great  interest.  After 
him  was  named  that  family  of  evergreens  in  which  is 
found  the  American  laurel,  Kalmia  latifolia,  which  has 
been  proposed  as  the  national  flower  of  the  United 
States. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  109 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AT   THE   ANCIENT   PLACE   OF   TREATIES. 

THE  Old  French  War,  or  the  War  of  the  Austrian 
Succession,  was  foolishly  begun  in  Germany,  and  fool 
ishly  ended  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  America.  The  peace 
which  came  without  honour  settled  nothing  as  re 
garded  the  questions  at  issue  in  America.  In  re 
ality  this  treaty  guaranteed  another  American  war. 
Louisburg  was  again  handed  over  to  the  French  in 
exchange  for  Madras.  All  prisoners  in  the  three  con 
tinents  were  to  be  released  without  ransom,  and  a 
return  of  all  conquered  territory  and  property  was 
agreed  to.  The  balance  of  power  now  rested  level 
on  its  fulcrum,  ready  for  some  fly's  weight  to  tilt  it 
and  cause  the  scale-pans  to  bounce. 

In  what  part  of  the  world  first  ?  With  unspeakable 
disgust  the  raw  troops  and  scarred  veterans,  and  the 
people  generally  of  the  colonies,  received  the  news. 
Not  a  few  thought  it  was  time  to  think  of  not  only 
fighting  their  own  battles,  but  of  making  their  own 
treaties.  The  continental  or  American  spirit,  already 
a  spark,  was  fanned  almost  to  a  flame. 

Meanwhile,  in  home  politics,  New  York  was  stead 
ily  advancing  in  the  pathway  that  was  to  merge 
into  the  highway  of  national  independence.  To  a 


no  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON- 

New  England  writer,  accustomed  to  the  unbridled 
laudation  of  his  own  State  and  ancestry  as  those  who 
led  the  Teutonic-American  colonies  in  the  struggle 
for  liberty,  the  doings  in  the  New  York  Assembly  may 
seem  "  teapot-tempest  politics."  To  those  less  preju 
diced,  it  is  a  noble  chapter  in  the  story  of  freedom, 
when  they  see  an  ultra-Tory  British  governor  fast  rele 
gated  to  a  position  of  impotence,  though  backed  by 
the  able  Tory,  Cadwallader  Golden,  while  the  people's 
will  is  manifested  in  persistent  limitation  of  the  royal 
prerogative. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  May,  1750,  when, 
on  the  death  of  Philip  Livingston,  Col.  William 
Johnson  was  appointed  to  a  seat  in  the  governor's  Ex 
ecutive  Council.  The  Livingstones  were  sturdy  men 
of  Scottish  descent,  descended  from  a  Presbyterian 
minister  who  had  been  banished  for  non-conformity. 
Like  so  many  of  the  founders  of  America,  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  and  most  of  the  chief  settlers  of  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  he  reinforced  his  demo 
cratic  ideas  by  some  years'  residence  in  the  Dutch 
Republic,  living  gladly  under  the  red,  white,  and  blue 
flag  of  the  United  States  of  Holland.  The  Living 
stones  in  America  married  into  families  of  Dutch 
descent,  and  thereby  were  still  further  imbued  with 
Republican  ideas.  Robert  and  Philip  had  been  secre 
taries  of  Indian  affairs,  and  had  thus  gained  great  favour 
and  influence  over  the  Iroquois.  Of  their  descend 
ants,  one  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  and  others  were  officers  in  the  Revolutionary 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  in 

army,  while  others  are  even  yet  adorning  the  annals 
of  freedom,  progress,  and  order. 

Clinton  was,  no  doubt,  very  glad  to  have,  in  place 
of  a  Livingstone,  one  who  was  so  loyally  devoted  to 
the  Crown,  and  so  good  a  personal  friend  as  Johnson 
near  him.  Johnson,  however,  was  not  sworn  in  and 
seated  until  1751. 

The  state  of  affairs  was  growing  worse  and  worse, 
and  Clinton  the  foolish  had  attempted  to  stay  the  tide 
of  democracy  by  having  no  Assembly  called  for  two 
years.  When,  however,  it  met  on  Sept.  4,  1750, 
Johnson's  bills  for  six  hundred  and  eighty- six  pounds, 
for  provisions  sent  to  Oswego,  were  cheerfully  paid ; 
but  the  vote  was  so  made  that  the  governor's  claims 
were,  as  he  thought,  invaded.  However,  for  good 
reasons,  and  fearing  the  loss  of  trade,  he  submitted. 
Could  Johnson's  invaluable  services  have  been  ac 
knowledged  without  also  making  recognition  of  Clin 
ton's  pretensions,  the  Assembly  would  have  been  more 
liberal.  The  remarks  and  strictures  of  the  biographer 
and  eulogist  of  Johnson  about  the  Dutch  traders  of 
Albany,  and  "  the  love  of  gain  so  characteristic  of  that 
nation "  (sic)  seem  strange  when  the  same  love  of 
gain  was,  and  is,  equally  characteristic  of  Englishman, 
Yankee,  Scotsman,  Huguenot,  and  Quaker.  No  one 
will  justify  the  members  of  the  New  York  Colonial 
Assembly  in  all  their  acts,  especially  those  which  were 
clearly  contemptible ;  but  we  cannot  see  that  John 
son,  Clinton,  or  the  English  loved  either  lucre  or 
liquor  any  less  than  the  Albany  Dutchmen.  Indeed, 
it  was  the  well-founded  suspicion  that  Clinton  was 


H2  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

using  his  office  largely  to  recruit  his  broken  fortunes 
that  made  the  representatives  resist  him  at  every 
point.  Johnson,  however,  finding  that  the  Assembly 
and  the  governor  could  never  be  reconciled,  and  that 
his  first  bill  of  two  thousand  pounds  would  be  likely, 
under  existing  circumstances,  to  remain  unpaid,  re 
signed  his  office  of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs. 
To  his«Iroquois  friends  he  announced  this  step  by 
sending  wampum  belts  to  all  the  chief  fortified  towns 
of  the  Confederacy. 

Neither  war  nor  peace  had  settled  the  question  of 
the  boundary  lines  between  the  French  and  English 
possessions  in  America.  The  French  claimed  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys  by  right  of  prior  discov 
ery  by  La  Salle  and  others.  The  English  based  their 
ownership  on  occupation  by  the  Iroquois  or  their 
vassals,  and  because  the  Five  Nations  were  allies  of 
Great  Britain.  Both  parties  now  began  anew  to  oc 
cupy  the  land.  The  race  was  westward  through  the 
Ohio  Valley  to  the  Mississippi.  The  starting-points 
were  from  tidewater  Virginia  and  from  Montreal. 
Not  on  parallel  lines,  but  toward  the  apex  of  a  tri 
angle,  and  straight  toward  collision,  the  movement 
began.  The  Ohio  Company  was  formed  with  a  grant 
of  six  hundred  thousand  acres  by  the  English  Gov 
ernment,  chiefly  to  speculators  in  Virginia.  George 
Washington  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  smitten  with 
the  fever  of  speculation,  and  to  the  end  of  his  days 
he  made  investments  in  the  Western  lands  as  eagerly 
as  many  do  now  in  Western  farm  mortgages. 

La  Gallissoniere  instructed  Celoron  de  Bienville,  one 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  113 

of  the  four  famous  brothers  of  a  remarkable  family, 
to  occupy  definitely  the  Ohio  Valley  in  the  name  of 
Louis  XIV.,  King  of  France.  Like  a  sower  going 
forth  to  sow,  Bienville  went  in  a  canoe  with  a  sack 
full  of  leaden  plates,  depositing  one  in  the  soil  at  the 
mouth  of  every  important  tributary,  so  as  to  publish 
to  the  world  that  from  the  source  of  the  Ohio  to  its 
mouth,  the  country  watered  by  it  belonged  to  France, 
Up  to  1891  several  of  these  plates  have  been  dug  up, 
—  coming  thus  to  resurrection  like  faint  memories  of 
vanished  dreams. 

While  thus  the  lines  of  empire  were  once  more 
drawn  between  Celt  and  Teuton,  the  same  masters 
again  held  the  key  to  the  situation,  —  the  Iroquois. 
To  win  these  over  to  French  alliance  or  vassalage,  all 
the  arts  of  peace  were  now  to  be  employed  by  the 
ablest  intellects  employing  the  strongest  forces  of  re 
ligion,  education,  diplomacy,  cunning,  and  material 
gifts.  France  with  her  compact  military  and  religious 
system  in  America  was  a  unity.  Soldier,  priest,  and 
semi-feudal  tenant  were  parts  of  one  machine  moved 
by  one  head.  With  the  unity  of  a  phalanx  and  the 
constrictive  power  of  a  dragon,  she  expected  to  crush 
to  atoms,  or  at  least  coop  up  between  mountains  and 
sea,  the  English  colonies.  The  heterogeneous  collec 
tion  of  people  from  north  continental  and  insular 
Europe,  of  many  languages  and  forms  of  religion, 
dwelling  between  the  Merrimac  and  the  Everglades, 
were  held  together  only  by  the  one  tie  of  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown. 

Francis  Picquet,  priest,  soldier,  and  statesman,  saw 
8 


114  •$•/£    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  necessity  of  securing  the  loyalty  of  the  Six  Na 
tions  ;  and  receiving  the  French  Governor's  assent, 
established  himself  at  La  Presentation,  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  River,  between  Oswego  and  Montreal,  a 
fort  and  a  chapel.  Ostensibly  his  mission  was  the 
conversion  of  the  Iroquois.  No  more  strategic  point 
could  have  been  selected.  Whether  for  peace,  war, 
trade,  voyaging,  or  education  and  general  influence, 
the  site  was  supremely  appropriate.  When  Johnson 
heard  of  the  man  called,  according  to  which  side  of 
the  border  his  name  was  spoken,  "  Apostle  of  the  Iro 
quois"  or  "Jesuit  of  the  West,"  he  was  alarmed,  es 
pecially  when  he  learned  that  this  lively  hornet,  Jon- 
caire,  was  busy  in  fomenting  trouble  among  the  tribes 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  Before 
long,  this  Jean  Coeur  had  succeeded  in  reviving  be 
tween  the  Iroquois  and  western  tribes  and  the  Cataw- 
bas  an  old  feud.  Very  soon  Clinton  received  word 
from  Gov.  James  Glenn,  of  South  Carolina,  that  the 
Senecas  were  on  the  war-path  and  murdering  the 
Catawbas.  In  this  action  the  Senecas  were  repeat 
ing  one  of  the  numerous  southern  raids  to  which  their 
grandfathers  had  been  addicted,  and  one  of  which 
Col.  John  Washington,  ancestor  of  George,  assisted 
to  repel.  At  Johnson's  suggestion,  Clinton  now  in 
vited  all  the  tribes  composing  the  Confederacy  or  in 
alliance  with  the  Iroquois  to  meet  at  the  ancient 
place  of  treaties,  —  the  ground  on  which  now  stands 
the  new  Capitol  at  Albany,  —  while  Clinton  himself 
called  upon  the  governors  of  all  the  colonies  to  form 
a  plan  of  union  for  uniting  the  tribes  and  resisting 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  115 

French  aggression.  On  the  28th  of  June,  1751,  the 
tribes  met  in  Albany,  again  to  renew  the  covenant 
first  confirmed  by  Arendt  Van  Curler.  There  were 
present  delegates  from  Connecticut,  Massachusetts, 
and  South  Carolina,  and  Indians  from  the  Great 
Lakes,  besides  six  Catawba  chiefs  and  representa 
tives  of  the  Six  Nations. 

The  first  point  made  by  the  Iroquois  was  that 
Colonel  Johnson  should  be  reappointed  Superintend 
ent  of  Indian  Affairs.  They  begged  leave  to  try  to 
influence  him  by  sending  a  string  of  wampum  to  him 
at  Mount  Johnson.  They  despatched  a  swift  footman 
to  his  house.  A  man  is  a  finer  animal  than  a  horse, 
and,  in  the  long  run,  swifter  and  more  enduring. 
They  chose  two  human  soles  rather  than  four  horse's 
hoofs  for  their  messenger.  Johnson  met  the  wampum- 
bearer  at  Schenectady ;  but  when  at  Albany,  despite 
the  eloquence  of  Clinton  and  the  Indians,  he  firmly 
declined  serving  again  while  his  salary  depended  upon 
the  Assembly.  He  now  took  the  oath  of  office  and 
his  seat  in  the  governor's  Council.  He  retained  this 
dignity  while  he  lived. 

The  great  council  formally  opened  on  the  6th  of 
July,  1751.  Besides  the  usual  eloquence  there  was 
much  singing,  with  ceremonial  dances  and  enjoyment 
of  that  aboriginal  custom  and  product,  —  the  pipe  and 
tobacco.  The  sucking  and  actual  whining  of  the  cal 
umet,  the  metaphorical  burying  of  the  hatchet  and 
planting  of  the  tree  of  peace,  signified  that  war  was 
over  between  the  Southern  and  Northern  Indians. 
The  confederates  living  above  the  not  yet  made  Ma- 


n6  SIX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

son's  and  Dixon's  line  clasped  hands  across  the  bloody 
chasm  with  the  Southerners,  and  peace  again  reigned 
from  Pilgrim  Land  to  the  Salzburger  Germans  in 
Ogelthorpe's  country.  The  "  late  unpleasantness  "  was 
past.  After  the  usual  drinking  of  fire-water  and  dis 
tribution  of  presents,  the  council  adjourned,  and  the 
Indians  went  home. 

While  the  Pennsylvania  traders  were  establishing 
posts  on  the  Ohio,  under  British  authority,  the  French 
were  also  busy.  Early  in  September,  from  a  French 
deserter,  Johnson  learned  the  startling  news  that  a 
great  fleet  of  canoes  manned  by  twelve  hundred 
Frenchmen  and  two  hundred  Adirondack  Indians,  had 
passed  Oswego,  bound  for  the  Ohio.  News  also  ar 
rived  by  a  Cayuga  chief  that  at  Cadaracqui  a  large 
French  man-of-war  was  being  built  for  the  reduction 
of  Oswego.  This  fort  was  then  in  command  of  Lieu 
tenant  Lindsay,  founder  of  the  Scottish  settlement  at 
Cherry  Valley. 

Johnson  was  in  New  York  attending  to  his  duties  as 
a  member  of  the  Council,  when  the  harassing  news 
was  received.  In  addition  to  the  anxiety  this  caused 
him,  he  was  selected  by  Clinton  to  do  what  proved  to 
be  a  disagreeable  task  to  himself,  and  in  the  eyes  of 
the  people's  representative  a  repulsive  one.  Indeed 
it  seemed  to  them  to  be  doing  the  governor's  dirty 
work.  When  the  House  sent  to  the  Council  an  act 
for  paying  several  demands  upon  the  colony,  it  pleased 
Clinton  and  the  Council  to  demand  vouchers,  and 
Johnson  was  sent  to  the  Assembly  to  request  them. 
The  offended  and  angry  representatives  of  the  people 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  117 

declared  that  the  demand  was  extraordinary  and  un 
precedented,  and  declined  to  consider  the  request 
until  the  first  of  May.  The  Council,  angry  in  turn, 
sent  Johnson  back  with  a  bill  of  their  own  originating, 
—  in  clear  violation  of  right  precedent  and  propriety, 
"applying  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds  for  the 
management  of  Indian  affairs  and  for  repairing  the 
garrison  at  Oswego." 

As  might  be  expected,  this  bill  was  not  allowed  even 
a  second  reading,  but  a  motion  was  at  once  passed 
"  that  it  was  the  great  essential  and  undoubted  right 
of  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  this  colony  to 
begin  all  bills  from  raising  and  disbursing  of  money," 
and  that  the  bill  of  the  Council  should  be  rejected. 
In  an  address  to  the  governor  it  was  intimated  that 
the  one  thousand  pounds  recently  voted  for  entertain 
ing  the  Indians  at  the  council  at  Albany  had  been  used 
for  other  purposes  than  the  public  good.  After  four 
days  of  foolish  resistance,  the  governor,  knowing  he 
was  unable  to  make  headway  when  so  clearly  in  the 
wrong,  passed  all  the  bills.  Then,  gratifying  a  per 
sonal  spite  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  he  dissolved 
the  Assembly. 

All  this  was  what  those  who  think  the  story  of 
American  liberty  was  fought  out  chiefly  in  New  Eng 
land  would  call  the  "  teapot-tempest  politics  of  the 
New  York  Assembly."  Yet  here  was  the  great  prin 
ciple  upon  which  republican  government  is  founded, 
and  for  which  Holland  revolted  against  Spain,  and  the 
American  colonies  against  England  ;  "  our  great  exam 
ple,"  as  Franklin  declared,  being  the  Dutch  republic. 


n8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

The  Dutch  had,  centuries  before,  beyond  the  dikes 
of  Holland,  developed  and  fought  for  the  doctrine  of 
"no  taxation  without  consent;  "  and  Clinton,  Golden, 
and  their  coadjutors  were  clearly  in  the  wrong. 
Further,  the  representatives  were  right  in  hinting  that 
Clinton  and  his  flatterers  were  too  anxious  to  improve 
their  own  fortunes,  and  to  make  the  people  pay  for 
their  needless  junketings  enjoyed  in  the  name  of  pub 
lic  service.  Those  who  read  the  local  history  of  the 
Hudson  and  Mohawk  Valleys  know  how  burdensome 
to  the  people  was  the  silly  and  costly  pageantry  of 
royal  governors  on  their  travels. 

Johnson,  probably  with  his  eyes  needfully  opened, 
on  reaching  his  home  after  the  dissolution  of  the  As 
sembly,  found  the  outlook  for  the  ultimate  occupation 
of  the  mid-continent  by  the  English  rather  gloomy. 
The  French  held  the  frontier  of  New  York  on  its  three 
strategic  lines,  —  Crown  Point,  La  Presentation,  and 
Niagara.  They  were  now  planning  to  plant  a  mission, 
which  should  mean  a  fort  and  a  church,  at  Onondaga 
Lake,  near  which  had  perhaps  been  —  if  we  so  inter 
pret  the  inscription  on  the  Pompey  stone  —  a  Spanish 
settlement  once  destroyed  by  the  Senecas.  Even  if 
the  stone,  inscribed  with  the  symbols  and  chronology 
of  Christendom,  were  that  of  a  captive,  it  is  a  mournful 
but  interesting  relic. 

When  Johnson  heard  the  news,  the  Jesuits  had  al 
ready  succeeded  in  winning  the  consent  of  the  chiefs 
even  at  this  ancient  hearth  of  the  Iroquois  Confeder 
acy.  Such  a  move  must  be  checkmated  at  once. 
Despite  the  raw  and  inclement  weather  of  late  autumn, 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  119 

and  his  desire  for  rest  and  reading,  Johnson  deter 
mined  on  a  journey  with  its  attendant  exposure.  He 
set  out  at  once  for  Onondaga.  Summoning  the  chief 
men,  he  asked  them,  as  a  proof  of  their  many  profes 
sions  of  friendship,  to  give  and  deed  to  him  the  land 
and  water  around  Onondaga  Lake,  to  the  extent  of 
two  miles  in  every  direction  from  the  shores,  for  which 
he  promised  a  handsome  present.  Unable  to  resist 
their  friend,  the  sachems  signed  the  deed  made  out 
by  Johnson,  who  handed  over  money  amounting  to 
three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and  left  for  home. 
Writing  to  Governor  Clinton,  he  offered  the  land  to  the 
Government  of  New  York  at  the  price  he  had  paid. 
Thus  were  the  designs  of  the  French  again  foiled. 

With  the  country  at  peace,  and  himself  released 
from  the  responsibility  of  Indian  affairs,  Johnson  be 
gan  to  indulge  himself  more  and  more  in  literary  pur 
suits,  the  development  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  the 
moral  and  intellectual  improvement  of  the  Indians,  and 
the  social  advantage  of  the  white  settlers.  He  had 
already  a  pretty  large  collection  of  books  from  London 
in  his  mansion,  but  he  sent  an  order,  August  20,  1752, 
to  a  London  stationer  for  the  "  Gentlemen's  Maga 
zine,"  the  "  Monthly  Review,"  the  latest  pamphlets, 
and  "the  newspapers  regularly,  and  stitched  up." 
He  persuaded  many  of  the  Mohawks  to  send  their 
children  to  the  school  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  founded 
by  John  Sergeant  in  1741,  and  served  after  his  death 
by  America's  greatest  intellect,  Jonathan  Edwards. 
His  uncle,  the  admiral,  had  already  given  seven  hun 
dred  pounds  to  the  support  of  this  school.  Johnson's 


120  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

correspondence  was  with  the  Hon.  Joseph  Dwight, 
once  Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  who  had  married  Mr.  Sergeant's  widow,  and 
was  deeply  interested  in  Indian  education. 

In  1753  Rev.  Gideon  Hawley,  who  had  taught  the 
children  of  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  and  Tuscaroras  at 
Stockbridge,  was  sent  from  Boston  to  establish  a  mis 
sion  school  on  the  Susquehanna  River,  west  of  Albany. 
Visiting  Mount  Johnson,  the  young  missionary  was  re 
ceived  by  the  host  in  person  at  the  gate.  He  spent  a 
night  enjoying  the  hospitality,  and  left  with  Johnson's 
hearty  godspeed.  Hawley  was  able  to  pursue  his 
work  quietly  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1 756. 
After  serving  as  chaplain  to  Col.  Richard  Gridley's 
regiment,  he  spent  from  1757  to  1807,  nearly  a  half- 
century  of  his  long  and  useful  life,  among  the  Indians 
at  Marshpee,  Mass. 

Johnson  was  also  in  warm  sympathy  with  the  efforts 
of  Dr.  Eleazar  Wheelock,  who  since  1 743,  when  he 
began  with  Lamson  Occum,  a  Mohegan  Indian,  had 
been  steadily  instructing  Indian  youths  at  Lebanon, 
Conn.  "  Moor's  Indian  Charity  School,"  as  then 
called,  was  set  upon  a  good  financial  basis  when  in 
1776  Occum  and  Rev.  Nathaniel  Whitten  crossed 
the  ocean,  and  in  England  obtained  an  endowment  of 
ten  thousand  pounds ;  William  Legge,  Earl  of  Dart 
mouth,  being  president  of  the  Board  of  Tnistees.  At 
this  school,  among  the  twenty  or  more  Indian  boys, 
Joseph  Brant,  sent  by  Johnson,  was  educated  under 
Dr.  Wheelock.  Later  the  Wheelock  school  was  trans 
ferred  to  Hanover,  N.  H.,  and  named  after  Lord  Dart- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  121 

mouth.  On  the  college  seal  only,  the  Indian  lads  are 
still  seen  coming  up  to  this  school  instead  of  attend 
ing  Hampton  in  Virginia,  or  Carlisle  in  Pennsylvania. 
However,  ancient  history  and  tradition,  after  long 
abeyance,  were  revived  when,  in  1887,  a  full-blooded 
Sioux  Indian,  Dr.  Charles  Alexander  Eastman,  was 
graduated  from  Dartmouth's  classic  halls. 

Various  other  attempts  were  made  by  Johnson,  es 
pecially  during  the  last  decade  of  his  life,  to  interest 
the  British  authorities  in  Church  and  State  in  the 
spiritual  improvement  of  the  Indians.  The  evidences 
of  his  good  intentions  and  generous  purposes  are  seen 
in  his  correspondence.  Interesting  as  they  are,  how 
ever,  they  bore  little  fruit,  owing  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  Revolution  which  divided  both  the  red  and  the 
white  tribes.  The  baronet  built  a  church  for  the 
Canajoharie  Indians,  and  supported  religious  teachers 
for  a  while  at  his  own  expense.  In  1767,  being  a 
man  above  his  sect,  he  would  have  had  the  Indian 
school,  which  grew  into  Dartmouth  College,  removed, 
and  established  in  the  Mohawk  Valley.  Sectarian  in 
fluence  and  ecclesiastical  jealousies  at  Albany  pre 
vented  his  plan  from  being  carried  out.  The  Valley 
was  thus  without  a  college,  until  Union,  founded  and 
endowed  almost  entirely  by  the  Dutchmen  of  Sche- 
nectady,  was  established  in  1786,  free  from  sectarian 
control,  as  its  name  implies.  Under  Eliphalet  Nott's 
presidency  of  sixty-two  years,  its  fame  became  na 
tional,  and  within  its  walls  have  been  educated  some 
of  the  most  useful  members  of  the  aboriginal  race 
called,  by  accident,  Indians. 


122  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Admiral  Warren  died  in  Dublin,  July  29,  1752, 
of  fever ;  and  Johnson  received  the  news  shortly  be 
fore  setting  out  to  attend  the  Executive  Council  in 
New  York,  which  met  in  October. 

Fortunately  for  the  Commonwealth,  Governor  Clin 
ton  had  taken  other  advice  than  that  so  liberally 
furnished  in  the  past  by  the  particular  member  so 
obnoxious  to  the  Assembly ;  and  his  opening  message 
was  commendably  brief,  being  merely  a  salutation, 
which  was  as  briefly  and  courteously  returned.  Now 
that  the  Tory  firebrand  was  "  out  of  politics  "  for  a 
while,  peace  once  more  reigned.  An  era  of  good 
feeling  set  in,  and  harmony  was  the  rule  until  Clinton's 
administration  ended.  A  new  Board  of  Indian  Com 
missioners  was  chosen,  by  a  compromise  between  the 
governor  and  his  little  parliament.  Plans  for  paying 
the  colonial  debt,  for  strengthening  the  frontier,  and 
for  establishing  a  college  were  all  carried  out. 

Oswego  was  the  watch-house  on  the  frontier.  In 
the  early  spring  of  1753  the  advance  guard  of  a 
French  army  left  Montreal  to  take  possession  of  the 
Ohio  Valley.  Descried  alike  by  Iroquois  hunters  at 
the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  by  the  officers 
at  Oswego,  the  news  was  communicated  to  Johnson 
by  foot-runners  with  wampum  and  by  horseback- 
riders  with  letters.  Thirty  canoes  with  five  hundred 
Indians  under  Marin  were  leading  the  six  thousand 
Frenchmen  determined  to  hold  the  domain  from 
Ontario  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Whether  troubled  the  more  by  the  encroachments 
of  the  warlike  French,  or  by  the  English  land-specu- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  123 

lators  and  enterprising  farmers  who  were  now  clearing 
forests  and  settling  on  their  old  hunting-grounds,  the 
Indians  could  scarcely  tell.  Dissatisfied  at  having  lost 
officially  their  friend  Johnson,  disliking  the  commis 
sioners,  seeing  what  they  considered  as  their  property, 
the  Ohio,  invaded  by  the  French,  while  the  New  York 
Government  seemed  to  be  inert  or  asleep,  they  sent 
a  delegation  to  lay  their  complaints  before  the  gov 
ernor  and  Council  in  New  York.  There  they  roundly 
abused  the  whole  government,  and  threatened  to  break 
the  covenant  chain.  As  matter  of  fact,  the  trouble 
concerning  land  patents  arose  out  of  transactions  set 
tled  before  Clinton's  time,  which  could  not  at  once  be 
remedied  in  curt  Indian  fashion.  All  legal  land  alien 
ations  in  New  York  were,  after  the  custom  originating 
in  Holland,  and  thence  borrowed  by  the  American 
colonists  and  made  a  national  procedure  in  all  the 
United  States,  duly  registered  ;  and  into  these  exami 
nation  must  be  made.  Both  house  and  governor, 
however,  agreed  in  choosing  Johnson  as  the  man  for 
the  critical  hour,  and  requested  him  to  meet  the  tribes 
at  the  ancient  council-fire  at  Onondaga.  Johnson, 
hearing  that  the  Iroquois  had  broken  faith  and  again 
attacked  the  Catawbas  in  the  Carolinas,  hastened 
matters  by  summoning  one  tribe,  the  Mohawks,  to 
meet  him  at  his  own  home. 

Again  the  stone  house  by  the  Mohawk  became  the 
seat  of  an  Indian  council,  and  was  enveloped  in  clouds 
of  tobacco  smoke.  Johnson,  compelling  them  to 
drink  the  cup  mingled  with  upbraiding  and  kind 
ness,  while  bountifully  filling  their  stomachs  from  his 


124  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

larder,  sent  them  away  in  good  humour,  and  most 
of  them  burning  with  loyalty.  Besides  thus  manifest 
ing  his  singular  power  over  the  Mohawk  savages,  he 
met  the  representatives  of  the  United  Confederacy 
at  Onondaga,  September  9.  The  result  of  the  cere 
monies,  the  eloquence,  the  smoke,  and  the  eating 
was  that  the  confederates,  though  sorely  puzzled  to 
know  what  to  do  between  the  French  and  the  English, 
promised  loyalty  to  the  brethren  of  Corlaer.  They 
would,  however,  say  nothing  satisfactory  concerning 
the  Catawbas,  some  of  whose  scalps,  and  living  mem 
bers  reserved  for  torture,  even  then  adorned  their 
villages. 

Governor  Clinton  had  grown  weary  of  the  constant 
battle  which  he  was,  probably  with  the  stolid  ignorance 
of  many  men  of  his  time  and  class,  fighting  against  the 
increasing  power  of  popular  liberty.  He  saw  it  was 
vain  to  resist  the  spirit  which  the  Dutch,  Scots,  and 
French  Huguenots  had  brought  into  New  York  with 
them,  or  inherited  from  their  sires,  and  he  longed  for 
a  rest  and  a  sinecure  post  in  England.  He  liked 
neither  the  New  York  people  nor  the  climate.  When 
therefore  his  successor,  Sir  Danvers  Osborne,  arrived 
on  Sunday,  October  7,  Clinton  hailed  the  day  as  one 
of  the  happiest  of  his  life.  He  shortly  after  sailed 
for  home,  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  years  in  a 
post  for  which  he  was  better  fitted, —  the  governorship 
of  Greenwich  Hospital.  He  died  in  1761,  fourteen 
years  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  which  his 
own  actions  had  strongly  tended  to  precipitate.  His 
son,  Sir  Henry,  led  the  British  regulars  and  mercena- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIOATS.  125 

ries  who  were  bluffed  in  North  Carolina,  driven  off  at 
Fort  Moultrie,  and  finally  won  victory  at  Long  Island. 
He  failed  to  relieve  Burgoyne,  fought  the  drawn  bat 
tle  at  Monmouth,  captured  Charleston,  dickered  with 
Arnold,  left  Cornwallis  in  the  lurch,  and  returning 
baffled  to  England,  shed  much  ink  in  defending  him 
self  against  his  critics.  Another  family  of  Clintons 
shed  high  lustre  on  the  American  name  and  the  Em 
pire  State.  One  added  another  river  parallel  to  the 
Mohawk,  flowing  past  Johnson's  old  home,  and  join 
ing  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  those  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Atlantic,  making  the  city  of  New 
York  the  metropolis  of  the  continent. 

Sir  Danvers  Osborne's  career  in  America  was  a 
short  tragedy  in  three  acts.  It  lasted  five  days.  He 
came  to  be  ground  as  powder  between  the  upper  mill 
stone  of  royal  prerogative  and  the  nether  disk  of 
popular  rights.  He  came  from  an  aristocratic  and 
monarchical  country,  whose  government  believed  that 
it  was  the  source  of  power  to  the  people,  to  colonists 
whose  fathers  had  been  educated  mostly  under  a  re 
public,  where  it  was  taught  that  the  people  were, 
under  God,  the  originators  of  power.  Charged  with 
instructions  much  more  stringent  than  those  given  to 
his  predecessor,  he  was  confronted  in  the  town-hall 
by  the  city  corporation,  whose  spokesman's  opening 
sentence  was  that  "  they  would  not  brook  any  infringe 
ment  of  their  liberties,  civil  or  religious."  On  meet 
ing  his  Council  for  the  first  time,  he  was  informed 
that  any  attempt  to  enforce  the  strict  orders  given  him 
and  to  insist  upon  an  indefinite  support,  would  be 


126  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

permanently  resisted.  That  night  the  unfortunate 
servant  of  the  king  took  his  own  life.  He  com 
mitted  suicide  by  hanging  himself  on  his  own  garden 
wall. 

De  Lancey,  the  chief-justice,  was  now  called  to  the 
difficult  post  of  governor,  and  to  the  personally  deli 
cate  task  of  serving  King  George  and  his  former  as 
sociates,  whom  he  had  so  diligently  prodded  against 
Clinton,  Golden,  and  Johnson.  This  was  especially 
difficult,  when  the  Assembly  found,  in  the  instructions 
to  Sir  Danvers  Osborne,  how  diligently  the  late  gover 
nor  and  his  advisers  had  slandered  and  misrepresented 
them  to  the  British  Government.  The  good  results 
of  a  change  in  the  executive  were,  however,  at  once 
visible,  and  the  Assembly  promptly  voted  money  for 
the  defence  of  the  frontier,  for  the  governor's  salary, 
for  his  arrears  of  pay  as  chief-justice,  for  Indian  pres 
ents,  for  his  voyage  to  Albany,  and  indeed,  for  every 
thing  reasonable.  They  added  a  complaint  against 
Clinton,  and  a  defence  of  their  conduct  to  the  Crown 
and  Lords  of  Trade,  which  De  Lancey  sent  to 
London. 

The  clouds  of  war  which  had  gathered  in  the  Ohio 
Valley  now  broke,  and  M.  Contrecoeur  occupied  Fort 
Du  Quesne.  George  Washington  began  his  career  on 
the  soil  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  his 
longest  marches,  deepest  humiliations,  fiercest  battles, 
and  most  lasting  civil  triumphs  were  won ;  and  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1754,  honourably  surrendered  Fort  Neces 
sity.  The  French  drum-beat  was  now  heard  from 
Quebec  to  Louisiana.  The  English  were  banished 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  127 

behind  the  Alleghanies,  and  their  flag  from  the  Ohio 
Valley. 

It  was  now  vitally  necessary  that  the  colonies  should 
form  a  closer  union  for  defence  against  French  aggres 
sion  and  the  inroads  of  hostile  savages.  The  Iroquois 
tribes  had  been  able  to  unite  themselves  in  a  stable 
form  of  federalism.  Why  could  not  the  thirteen 
colonies  become  confederate,  and  act  with  unity  of 
purpose?  Besides  so  great  an  example  on  the  soil 
before  them,  there  was  the  New  England  Confedera 
tion  of  1643,  which  had  been  made  chiefly  by  men 
trained  in  a  federal  republic.  Both  the  Plymouth 
men  and  many  of  the  leaders  of  New  England  had 
lived  in  the  United  States  of  Holland,  and  under  the 
red,  white,  and  blue  flag.  There  they  had  seen  in 
actual  operation  what  strength  is  derived  from  union. 
Concordia  res  parva  crescunt  ("By  concord  little 
things  become  grand"),  was  the  motto  of  the  Union 
of  Utrecht,  familiar  to  all ;  but  in  New  York  the  repub 
lican  motto  Een-dracht  maakt  Macht  ("  Union  makes 
strength")  needed  no  translation,  for  its  language  was 
the  daily  speech  of  a  majority  of  the  people. 

It  seemed  now,  at  least,  eminently  proper  that  the 
Congress  of  Colonies  should  be  in  the  state  settled 
first  by  people  from  a  republic,  and  at  Albany,  the 
ancient  place  of  treaties,  and  at  the  spot  in  English 
America  where  red  and  white  delegates  from  the 
north,  east,  west,  and  south  can  even  now  assemble 
without  climbing  or  tunnelling  the  Appalachian  chain 
of  mountains. 

By  direction  of  the  Lords  of  Trade,   the  govern- 


128  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON' 

ments  of  all  the  colonies  were  invited  to  meet  at  Al 
bany,  so  that  a  solemn  treaty  could  be  at  one  time 
made  with  all  the  Indian  tribes,  by  all  the  colonies,  in 
the  name  of  the  king. 

For  treaty-making  with  the  Iroquois,  the  most 
powerful  of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  there  was  only 
one  place,  —  Albany.  Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia,  vainly 
wanted  it  at  Winchester,  Va.,  while  Shirley,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  jealous  of  New  York,  and  a  genuine  politician, 
wished  to  keep  himself  before  the  voters,  and  to  come 
after  the  elections  were  over.  His  party  was  more 
than  his  province  or  the  country.  As  the  Indians  had 
already,  according  to  orders  from  England,  been  no 
tified,  the  New  York  Assembly  declined  to  postpone 
time  or  place. 

In  Albany  the  streets  were  cleaned  and  repaired  by 
order  of  the  City  Council,  and  the  delegates  were 
given  a  public  dinner  at  the  municipal  expense.  The 
Congress  met  in  the  City  Hall  on  the  i9th  of  June, 
1754,  twenty-five  delegates  from  nine  colonies  being 
present ;  and  whether  in  personal  or  in  representative 
dignity  formed  the  most  august  assembly  which  up  to 
this  time  had  ever  been  held  in  the  Western  World. 
The  colonies  were  named  in  the  minutes  according 
to  their  situation  from  north  to  south.  All  were 
represented,  except  New  Jersey,  the  Carolinas,  and 
Georgia. 

The  business  proper  began  when  Johnson  read  a 
paper,  which  was  the  official  report  of  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  on  Indian  Affairs,  in  which  the  polit 
ical  situation  was  exposed.  In  it  propositions  were 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  129 

made  to  build  forts  in  the  Onondaga  and  Seneca 
countries,  with  a  missionary  in  each  place ;  to  forbid 
the  sale  of  rum,  and  to  expel  and  keep  the  Frenchmen 
out  of  the  Indian  castles.  The  speech,  prepared  as 
the  voice  of  the  Congress,  was  delivered  June  28  to 
the  Indians  who  were  present,  and  who  had  to  be 
urged  by  the  governor  to  attend.  After  various  con 
ferences  and  much  speech- making  on  either  side, 
including  an  address  by  Abraham,  a  scorching  phi 
lippic  by  King  Hendrick,  —  both  Mohawk  sachems 
and  brothers,  —  and  the  distribution  of  gifts,  the  In 
dians  went  home  apparently  satisfied.  To  the  edifi 
cation  of  delegates  from  some  of  the  colonies,  where 
Indians  were  deemed  incapable  of  understanding  truth 
and  honour,  they  found  that  Governor  De  Lancey  and 
Colonel  Johnson  treated  them  as  honest  men  who  un 
derstood  the  nature  of  covenants.  Whereas  the  laws 
of  Joshua  and  Moses  had  been  elsewhere  applied  only 
too  freely  to  Indian  politics  by  the  elect  of  Jehovah,  the 
New  York  authorities  really  believed  that  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Golden  Rule  had  a  place  in 
Indian  politics. 

Other  questions  of  vital  interest  to  the  colonies 
were  discussed.  On  the  fifth  day  of  the  session  of 
the  Congress,  while  waiting  for  the  Indians  to  assem 
ble,  a  motion  was  made  and  carried  unanimously  that 
"  a  union  of  all  the  colonies  "  was  absolutely  neces 
sary  for  their  security  and  defence.  A  committee  of 
six  was  appointed  to  prepare  plans  of  union,  and  from 
the  ninth  day  until  the  end  of  the  session  this  impor 
tant  matter  was  under  debate.  On  the  gth  of  July 
9 


130  ,  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  Congress  voted  "  That  there  be  a  union  of  his 
Majesty's  several  governments  on  the  continent,  so 
that  their  councils,  treasure,  and  strength  may  be  em 
ployed  in  due  proportion  against  their  common  en 
emy."  On  the  zoth  of  July  the  plan  was  adopted, 
and  ordered  to  be  sent  to  London  for  the  royal 
consideration. 

How  far  this  Albany  plan  of  union,  which  looked  to 
a  Great  Council  of  forty-eight  members  meeting  at 
Philadelphia  under  a  President-general,  resembled  or 
foreshadowed  the  National  Constitution  of  1787,  we 
need  not  here  discuss.  Certain  it  is,  that  though  the 
exact  plan  proposed  was  rejected,  both  by  the  colo 
nies  and  by  Great  Britain,  the  spirit  of  the  movement 
lived  on.  Between  the  year  1754  and  that  of  1776 
was  only  the  space  of  the  life  of  a  young  man.  Be 
tween  the  "  Congress  "  —  the  word  in  this  sense  was 
a  new  coinage,  dating  from  the  meeting  of  colonial 
delegates  in  Albany,  after  the  burning  of  Schenectady 
in  1690  —  in  the  State  House  at  Albany  and  the  one 
in  Carpenter's  Hall  in  Philadelphia,  the  time  was  even 
less.  Certain  it  is  that  the  assembly  of  representa 
tives  of  the  colonies  at  Albany  in  1690  was  the  first 
occasion  of  the  popular  use  of  the  word  "  Congress  " 
as  now  used,  and  usually  written  with  a  capital, 
while  that  in  1 748  made  it  a  word  of  general  accept 
ance  in  the  English  language.  Before  that  time  and 
meeting  it  had  other  significations  not  so  august ;  but 
while  these  have  fallen  away,  the  other  and  chief  sig 
nification  in  English  remains.  Further,  from  this  time 
forth  the  "  Continental  "  —  that  is,  the  American  as 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  131 

distinct  from  the  British,  the  independent  as  discrimi 
nated  from  the  transatlantic  —  idea  grew.  In  com 
mon  speech,  the  continental  man  was  he  who  was 
more  and  more  interested  in  what  all  the  colonies  did 
in  union,  and  less  in  what  the  king's  ministers  were 
pleased  to  dictate.  More  and  more  after  the  Albany 
Congress  Wycliffe's  idea  prevailed,  —  that  even  King 
George's  "  dominion  was  founded  in  grace  "  and  not 
on  prerogative.  More  and  more  the  legend  on  the 
coins,  "  Georgius  Rex  Dei  Gratia,"  faded  into  the 
nature  of  a  fairy  tale,  while  the  idea  grew  that  the  gov 
ernments  derive  their  authority  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed.  To  those  wedded  to  the  idea  that  re 
ligion  can  live  only  when  buttressed  by  politics,  that 
a  church  owes  its  life  to  the  state,  this  increase  of 
democratic  doctrines  was  horrible  heresy,  portending 
frightful  immorality  and  floods  of  vice.  A  State  with 
out  a  King,  a  Church  without  politically  appointed 
rulers  and  the  support  of  public  taxation,  a  coin  with 
out  the  divine  name  stamped  on  it,  were,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  servants  of  monarchy,  as  so  many  expressions 
of  atheism.  Not  so  thought  the  one  member  of  the 
Albany  Congress  who  lived  to  sign  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  National  Constitution  of  1787, 
—  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  incarnated  the  state 
founded  politically  by  Penn ;  nor  the  Quaker,  Stephen 
Hopkins,  of  Rhode  Island,  who  lived  to  put  his  sign- 
manual  to  Jefferson's  immortal  document,  July  4, 
1776. 


132  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE   BATTLE   OF   LAKE   GEORGE. 

BY  the  movements  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  the  war 
had  already  broken  out,  though  the  diplomatists  on  the 
transatlantic  side  had  not  yet  said  so.  By  the  first 
week  in  May,  the  raids  on  the  northern  border  began 
by  the  destruction  of  Hoosic,  within  ten  miles  of  Fort 
Massachusetts.  The  half-naked  or  starving  refugees 
reaching  Albany  furnished  a  vivid  object-lesson  of 
reality.  Under  Johnson's  vigilance  and  activity,  the 
people  in  the  forts,  block-houses,  and  palisaded  vil 
lages  were  kept  on  guard  night  and  day.  In  this  work 
he  was  ably  seconded  by  Governor  De  Lancey.  Pol 
itics  make  strange  bed-fellows ;  and  the  late  critic  and 
opponent,  now  that  he  occupied  the  seat  of  the  per 
son  whom  he  had,  largely  out  of  party  spirit,  op 
posed,  became  a  warm  friend  of  his  friend  Johnson, 
the  untiring  frontiersman. 

When  in  New  York,  Feb.  28,  1755,  Johnson  learned 
of  the  official  declaration  of  war,  and  the  sailing  from 
Cork,  Ireland,  of  General  Braddock  with  one  thousand 
regulars,  bound  for  Alexandria,  Va. ;  and  to  this  place 
Johnson  with  Governor  De  Lancey  made  a  journey. 
At  the  council  held  by  the  five  royal  governors,  ex 
peditions  against  Nova  Scotia,  Crown  Point,  Niagara, 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  133 

and  Fort  Du  Quesne  were  planned.  Johnson  was 
again  made  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  and  ap 
pointed  as  major-general  to  command  the  forces  for 
the  reduction  of  Crown  Point. 

The  story  of  the  success  of  one  of  these  expeditions 
and  the  failure  of  two  of  them  under  Braddock  and 
Shirley,  is  known  to  all.  We  may  now  glance  at  that 
under  Johnson.  After  a  great  council  held  in  June, 
attended  by  eleven  hundred  of  all  ages  and  sexes, 
to  the  devastation  of  Johnson's  larder,  King  Hen- 
drick  and  many  hundred  fighting  men  promised  to  be 
ready  for  war.  After  various  delays,  the  motley  army 
gathered  from  the  colonies  left  Albany  August  8,  1 755, 
and  on  the  28th  Johnson  reached  the  Lake  of  the 
Holy  Sacrament.  A  true  courtier,  he  changed  the 
name  given  by  Isaac  Jogues,  which  had  superseded 
the  Indian  term,  Andiatarocte ;  and  in  honour  of  his 
sovereign  George,  and  "to  ascertain  his  undoubted 
right  there,"  called  the  beautiful  water  by  the  name 
it  still  bears.  The  modern  fanciful  name  "  Horicon  " 
seems  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  printer's  mistake, 
glorified  by  a  romancer. 

Parkman's  magic  pen  has  drawn  the  picture  of  the 
movements  of  Dieskau,  the  German,  and  his  French 
and  Indian  forces  opposed  to  the  provincial  army,  and 
has  brilliantly  described  the  camp  and  forces  at  Lake 
George,  when,  on  the  morning  of  Sept.  8,  1755,  the 
Canadians,  Indians,  and  French,  numbering  fifteen 
hundred,  being,  unknown  to  the  English,  only  an 
hour's  march  distant,  one  thousand  men  sallied  out 
from  the  camp  to  capture  Dieskau  and  his  forces. 


134  S/A'    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

The  spirit  of  Braddock  seemed  to  be  still  in  the  air ; 
and  the  men  —  New  England  and  New  York  militia  — 
sallied  out  jauntily,  expecting  easy  victory,  but  in  real 
ity  to  what  proved  "  the  bloody  morning  scout." 
They  were  led  by  Col.  Ephraim  Williams  —  whose  will, 
creating  what  is  now  Williams  College,  had  been  made 
a  few  days  before  at  Albany  —  and  by  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Whiting.  In  three  divisions  the  little  army 
marched  out  and  soon  disappeared  from  view  in  the 
forest,  just  before  nine  o'clock  A.  M.  The  two  col 
umns,  French  and  English,  were  thus  approaching 
each  other  in  a  narrow  road,  like  trains  on  a  single 
track  in  a  tunnel. 

Not  knowing  what  the  issue  might  be,  Johnson 
made  preparation  for  all  risks.  He  at  once  ordered 
trees  felled  and  laid  lengthwise.  With  these  and  the 
wagons,  bateaux,  and  camp  equipage,  he  constructed 
a  rough  line  of  defence,  which  faced  all  along  the  one 
side  of  the  camp  which  an  assaulting  party  might  be 
reasonably  expected  to  attack,  —  that  is,  on  that  side  of 
the  rough  quadrangle  which  was  parallel  to  the  lake. 
At  that  portion  fronting  the  road,  he  planted  three  of 
his  heaviest  pieces  of  cannon,  one  thirty-two  and  two 
eighteen-pounders.  Another  was  posted  a  little  way 
round  to  the  left,  while  five  howitzers  of  smaller  cali 
bre,  with  the  mortars,  one  of  thirteen-inch,  and  four 
of  smaller  calibre,  were  stationed  to  throw  shell  in 
the  morasses  and  woods  on  the  flanks.  The  superb 
artillerist,  Major  William  Eyre,  with  a  company  of  Brit 
ish  sailors,  served  the  guns. 
The  situation  then  was  as  follows  :  Colonel  Williams's 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  135 

party  was  marching  southward  along  the  stump-em 
bossed  road  cut  by  Johnson's  axemen  a  few  days  be 
fore.  After  advancing  two  miles  he  halted  for  the 
other  divisions  to  come  up,  and  then  moved  in  a  solid 
body.  With  what  seems  incredible  carelessness,  neg 
lecting  to  send  out  scouts,  they  moved  on,  Braddock- 
like,  unsuspicious  of  danger,  imagining  that  the  French 
were  miles  away. 

On  the  contrary,  Dieskau's  scouts  had  watched  their 
departure  from  the  camp,  and  quickly  reported  the 
news  to  the  German  baron.  He  at  once  ordered  his 
regulars  to  halt,  and  sent  the  Canadians  and  Indians 
into  the  forest,  three  hundred  paces  ahead,  with  orders 
to  lie  flat  on  the  ground  behind  trees,  rocks,  and  bushes, 
and  make  no  noise  or  sign  until  the  regulars  had  fired, 
when  all  were  to  rise  and  surround  the  English. 

Here,  then,  was  a  horseshoe  ambuscade  in  a  swampy 
spot.  It  was  another  case  of  "  the  fatal  defile."  The 
regulars  were,  to  the  party  approaching  them,  invisible, 
for  they  lay  behind  a  swell  of  ground.  All  was  as  si 
lent  as  the  grave  when  the  head  of  Colonel  Williams's 
line  entered  the  trap.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  treach 
ery  of  the  Indians,  or  the  warning  signal  of  the  French 
Iroquois  to  their  kindred,  given  by  the  discharge  of  a 
gun,  —  though  it  may  be  possible  that  this  unexpected 
shot  was  an  accident,  —  the  English  would  have  been 
nearly  annihilated.  But  before  the  party  had  passed 
the  calks  of  the  horseshoe  at  the  ends  of  the  ambus 
cade,  the  war-whoop  and  the  countless  puffs  of  smoke 
and  whistling  bullets  told  the  whole  story.  The  silent 
wilderness  at  once  became  hell. 


136  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Colonel  Williams  at  once  took  in  the  situation,  and 
mounting  a  rock  to  direct  his  men,  ordered  them 
to  spread  out  on  the  hill  to  the  right.  He  was  soon 
shot  through  the  head.  Hendrick  had  fallen  at  the 
first  fire.  The  Americans  were  rallied  by  Nathan 
Whiting,  and  retreated  stubbornly,  contesting  the 
ground  rod  by  rod,  and  firing  from  behind  trees  and 
rocks  at  the  Canadians  and  Indians,  who  followed  the 
same  tactics.  Where  they  met  reinforcements  sent 
out  by  Johnson,  their  firing  was  more  steady  and 
destructive. 

It  was  near  Bloody  Pond  that  Lieutenant  Cole  and 
the  three  hundred  men  sent  out  from  camp  by  John 
son  met  them,  and  ably  covered  their  retreat,  so  that 
the  wounded  were  brought  in,  and  the  main  body 
reached  the  camp  in  good  order  about  ten  o'clock. 
La  Gardeur,  the  officer  to  whom  Washington  had  sur 
rendered  a  few  months  before,  commanded  the  Cana 
dian  Indians  in  this  battle,  and  was  slain.  The  sav 
ages,  seeing  the  English  out  of  the  way  for  the  pres 
ent,  at  once  fell  back  to  scalp  and  plunder  the  slain 
Americans.  Dieskau  ordered  them  off,  refusing  to  let 
them  stop  and  thus  lose  time.  Though  obeying,  they 
were  angry  and  insubordinate,  and  later  in  the  day 
sneaked  out  of  the  fight,  to  return  like  dogs  to  their 
vomit  of  war.  Dieskau  ordered  the  bugles  to  sound 
the  assembly,  and  re-formed  his  forces,  hoping  by  a 
rush  on  Johnson's  camp  to  capture  it  at  once.  Un 
fortunately  for  him,  he  had  to  reckon  with  Indians  and 
bushrangers  instead  of  with  trained  soldiers. 

Once  inside  the  camp,  the  Massachusetts  men  were 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  137 

ranged  on  the  right,  the  Connecticut  men  on  the  left, 
with  the  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  men  be 
tween.  Five  hundred  troops  were  posted  on  the 
flanks  in  reserve.  Lying  down  flat  on  their  stomachs 
behind  the  hastily  thrown  up  barricade,  they  lay 
awaiting  the  enemy,  whom  they  expected  at  a  double- 
quick  pace. 

Everything  now  depended  on  the  steadiness  of  the 
militia.  The  officers  threatened  death  to  all  who 
flinched  from  the  foe.  All  eyes  were  bent  on  the 
woods  in  front,  and  especially  down  the  road  whence 
they  expected  to  see  the  regulars  rush  on  them  with 
levelled  bayonets.  Could  raw  provincials,  commanded 
by  a  fur-trader  and  a  lawyer,  face  the  veterans  of 
Europe  ? 

Three  long,  cold  iron  noses  poked  out  at  them 
were  too  much  for  Dieskau's  Indians.  The  black- 
mouthed  cannon,  intercepting  with  their  round  cir 
cles  a  charming  view  of  the  blue  lake  ahead,  took 
away  the  courage  of  the  bush-rangers,  and  both  reds 
and  whites  scattered  and  took  to  the  woods.  To  the 
exasperation  of  Dieskau,  all  his  life  used  to  regular 
military  formations,  his  great  host  melted  away  from 
his  sight  in  the  undergrowth  and  behind  trees; 
where,  now  creeping  forward,  now  squatting  or  lying, 
they  began  a  dropping  fire  in  the  front  and  on  the 
flanks  of  the  Americans.  In  traditional  European 
style,  the  French  regulars,  in  white  uniforms  and 
with  glittering  bayonets,  marched  up  and  delivered 
their  volleys  from  double  ranks. 

Platoon-firing  was  then  the  orthodox  method  of 


138  67tf    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

war.  The  long,  thin  lines  of  battle  which  now  ob 
tain  in  the  field,  and  which  the  Americans  taught  to 
Europe,  were  not  then  known  to  men  accustomed  to 
the  cleared  land  and  level  fields  of  the  Low  Countries, 
and  of  Europe  generally.  Soon  moving  forward  into 
the  clearing,  and  deploying  to  double  width,  the  reg 
ulars  fired  by  platoons  of  three  lines,  —  the  first  file 
of  men  kneeling  down,  and  the  rear,  or  third  file, 
delivering  their  volleys  over  the  shoulders  of  those  of 
the  second  line  in  front.  Aiming  too  high  and  being 
too  far  off  for  the  effective  range  of  flint-lock  smooth 
bores,  the  result  of  their  general  miss  was  to  arouse 
the  spirits  of  the  Americans,  even  to  gayety.  After 
the  first  hour  their  nerves  became  more  steady,  and 
they  aimed  with  deadly  effect,  while  the  irritated  and 
excited  veterans  fired  too  high  to  do  much  execution. 
When  the  cannon  served  by  the  sailors  under  Major 
Eyre  began  to  tear  their  ranks  with  round  shot  and 
canister,  the  great  gaps  made  among  the  white  coats 
cheered  the  provincials  still  more.  Gallantly  dress 
ing  up,  they  endeavoured  for  many  minutes  to  present 
an  orderly  front ;  but,  finally,  Dieskau  had  to  break 
from  the  road,  and  moving  to  the  right  in  the  face  of 
a  murderous  fire,  began  the  attack  on  the  three  regi 
ments  of  Colonels  Williams,  Ruggles,  and  Whitcomb. 
Here  for  another  hour  they  stood  their  ground  man 
fully,  in  the  face  of  a  fire  whose  rapidity  and  accuracy 
were  the  astonishment  of  Dieskau,  who  bravely  led  his 
troops  until  struck  down. 

The  commanders  on  either  side  in  this  battle  were 
wounded,  and  had  to  retire  in  favour  of  others.    John- 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  139 

son,  shortly  after  the  first  volley  of  the  French  regu 
lars,  was  struck  by  a  ball  in  the  thigh  which  made  a 
painful  flesh  wound.  The  ball  broke  no  bones,  but 
was  never  extracted,  and  the  lacerated  nerves  troubled 
him  more  or  less  all  his  life  thereafter.  He  retired  to 
his  tent,  and  Gen.  Phineas  Lyman  took  command, 
cheering  his  men,  and  exposing  himself  with  reckless 
bravery  both  behind  and  outside  the  barricade.  In 
fact,  this  battle  of  Lake  George  was  Lyman' s  battle, 
and  was  largely  Lyman's  victory. 

Dieskau  had  bravely  led  his  men  during  several 
hours,  but  while  giving  an  order  to  his  Indians  to- 
move  farther  to  the  left,  he  approached  so  near  the 
intrenchments  that  he  received,  from  an  American 
standing  behind  a  tree,  his  first  wound.  Ordering 
the  Chevalier  de  Montreuil  to  take  command,  and  to 
order  retreat  if  necessary,  then  to  do  his  best,  and 
to  send  men  to  remove  him,  Dieskau  crawled  near  a 
tree  and  sat  with  his  back  against  it.  One  Canadian 
sent  to  remove  him  was  picked  off  by  an  American, 
and  fell  across  the  baron's  wounded  knee.  The  other 
went  off  for  assistance ;  but  soon  after  his  disappear 
ance  the  retreat  was  sounded.  A  renegade  French 
man,  on  the  American  side,  then  approached  within 
twelve  paces  of  the  German  baron,  and  deliberately 
shot  him,  the  bullet  traversing  his  hips.  Dieskau  had 
received,  in  all,  five  wounds. 

Blodget,  a  sutler  in  Johnson's  army,  stood  like  a  war- 
correspondent  on  the  hill  near  by,  watching  the  fight 
ing.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  make  a  sketch  of  the 
battle,  which  he  published  as  a  cheap  print,  "  with  a 


140  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

full  though  short  history,"  some  weeks  afterward,  in 
Boston.  Even  the  wagoners,  in  the  intervals  between 
carrying  to  Surgeon  Williams  the  wounded  who  lay  on 
the  ground  behind  the  log  house,  took  their  part  in 
fighting ;  each  probably  doing  as  much  execution  as 
the  average  farmer's  boy.  For,  despite  the  hot  fire  so 
long  maintained,  the  number  of  killed  and  wounded 
on  the  enemy's  side,  except  among  the  French  regu 
lars  whose  white  uniform  made  them  easy  targets, 
was  not  very  great.  It  was  not  easy  to  hit  men  en 
sconced  behind  trees  or  stumps,  or  occasionally  rising 
in  the  smoke  above  the  underbrush,  while  the  enemy 
could,  during  most  of  the  time,  see  only  here  and 
there  a  head.  The  Mohawks  in  the  camp  were 
mostly  useless,  except  to  keep  up  yelling  while  their 
white  brothers  fought  beyond  the  breastworks;  and 
they  enjoyed  seeing  how  the  pale  faces  fought.  Nev 
ertheless,  about  forty  of  their  number  lost  their  lives 
during  the  day  in  ambuscade  and  battle. 

While  this  attack  of  the  regulars  on  the  right  was 
progressing,  the  French  Canadians  and  the  Abenaki 
Indians  boldly  attempted  to  flank  the  left  of  the 
camp,  many  of  them  even  going  away  round  toward 
the  lake,  and  clustering  in  a  morass  where  the  mus 
ketry  fire  could  not  well  reach  them.  Fortunately, 
however,  Johnson  had  posted  a  field-piece  advanta 
geously  on  the  extreme  left  of  his  front,  which  now 
harassed  the  squatting  Indians,  while  on  those  in  the 
marsh  the  mortars  and  howitzers  were  trained.  Al 
though  the  howitzers  split  and  became  useless,  the 
mortars  did  well;  and  some  shells  skilfully  dropped 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  141 

drove  the  lurking  enemy  away,  and  completely  relieved 
this  flank  of  danger. 

Brave  as  were  the  Americans  behind  the  rude  bar 
ricade,  they  did  not  excel  the  French  regulars,  who 
fought  until  they  were  nearly  annihilated.  It  was  well 
into  the  afternoon  when  they  were  deserted  by  hun 
dreds  of  French  forest-rangers  and  Canadian  Indians, 
who,  seeing  no  hope  of  winning  the  day,  skulked 
away  to  the  scene  of  the  morning's  ambuscade,  —  the 
one  set  to  plunder,  and  the  other  to  scalp  the  slain. 
About  four  o'clock  so  many  of  the  white-coated  regu 
lars  were  prone  on  the  ground  and  so  few  in  action,  all 
their  officers  being  disabled,  while  the  fire  of  the 
others  had  slackened,  that  the  Americans  began  to 
get  out  of  their  breastworks,  and  to  fight  in  the 
woods.  This  made  the  French  give  way  so  visibly 
that  the  whole  of  Lyman's  force  rushed  out  on  the 
enemy  with  their  hatchets  and  clubbed  muskets,  push 
ing  them  out  of  ambush  into  full  retreat.  This  onset 
took  place  between  four  and  five  o'clock  P.  M.,  and 
resulted  in  completely  driving  the  enemy  off  the  field. 

The  fighting  was  not  yet  over,  for  the  third  battle 
on  this  eventful  day  was  yet  to  take  place.  Hearing 
the  distant  firing,  Colonel  Blanchard,  of  Fort  Lyman, 
sent  out  a  party  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  under 
command  of  the  brave  Captain  McGinnis,  who,  with 
his  Schenectady  men,  led  the  van.  Warily  approach 
ing  the  place  of  the  morning's  ambuscade,  with 
scouts  ahead,  they  succeeded  in  getting  between  the 
piled-up  baggage  of  the  French  army  and  a  vidette  of 
five  or  six  men  who  were  keeping  a  lookout  on  a  hill. 


142  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Moving  farther  up  the  road,  they  found  a  party  of 
three  hundred  French  and  Indians,  consisting  of  those 
who  had  plundered  the  slain,  and  of  other  remnants 
of  the  beaten  army,  who  were  eating  cold  rations  out 
of  their  packs.  They  sat  along  Rocky  Brook  and  the 
marshy  pond.  McGinnis  and  his  men  approached 
stealthily  until  within  firing  distance,  and  then,  after  a 
volley,  charged  like  tigers  upon  their  prey. 

In  the  fight  which  ensued  the  Americans  contested 
against  heavy  odds  ;  but  although  their  brave  captain 
was  mortally  wounded,  he  directed  their  movements 
till  the  firing  ceased,  and  the  third  battle  of  this 
eventful  day  resulted  in  victory.  Not  till  the  next 
evening  did  the  scattered  band  of  Dieskau's  army 
meet,  exhausted  and  famished,  at  the  place  where 
they  had  left  their  canoes. 

The  next  day  the  marshy  pool,  in  places  reddened 
with  the  blood  of  the  slain,  thrown  into  it  to  save  bur 
ial,  was  given  the  name  —  which  it  ever  afterward 
kept  —  of  "Bloody  Pond."  When  the  writer  saw  it, 
in  1877,  the  sunbeams  danced  merrily  on  its  dimpled 
face,  as  the  snow-white  and  golden  pond-lilies  were 
swayed  by  the  morning's  breeze,  rippling  the  water's 
surface,  while  yet  held  at  anchor  beneath.  In  this 
threefold  battle  the  Americans  lost  most  heavily  in 
the  "bloody  morning  scout"  at  the  ambuscade, — 
their  total  being  two  hundred  and  twenty  killed,  and 
ninety  wounded.  The  well-plied  tomahawks,  after  the 
surprise  in  the  woods,  and  the  poisoned  bullets  of  the 
French  Canadians  accounted  for  the  disproportionate 
number  of  the  dead  over  the  wounded.  Among  the 


I    UNIVERSITY    1 

V  OF  / 

AND    THE  SIX^A^f/1       143 


officers  were  Colonel  Williams,  Major  Ashley,  Cap 
tains  Keys,  Porter,  Ingersoll,  and  twelve  others. 
Captain  McGinnis  died  in  the  camp  two  days  after 
ward.  Of  the  Indians,  beside  Hendrick,  thirty-eight 
were  slain.  On  the  French  side  the  loss  must  have 
been  fully  four  hundred,  or  probably  one  third  of 
those  actually  engaged. 

In  this  battle  farmers  and  traders  prevailed  over 
European  troops,  trained  woodcraftsmen,  and  fierce 
savages.  The  honours  of  the  command  belong  equally 
to  three  men.  The  credit  of  the  defences,  and  the 
excellent  disposition  of  marksmen,  artillery,  and  re 
serves,  belongs  to  Johnson,  who,  unfortunately,  was 
wounded  in  the  hips  in  the  first  part  of  the  battle,  and 
had  to  leave  the  field  for  shelter.  The  command  then 
devolved  upon  Gen.  Phineas  Lyman,  who  deserves 
equal  honour  with  Johnson.  The  Connecticut  gen 
eral,  cool  and  alert,  displayed  the  greatest  courage, 
and  was  largely  influential  in  securing  the  final  result. 
To  McGinnis  belongs  the  credit  of  winning  a  victory, 
—  the  second  of  the  day,  in  what  may  be  called  the 
third  battle  of  this  eventful  8th  of  September.  Nev 
ertheless,  such  are  the  peculiarities  of  the  military 
mind,  that  Johnson  never  mentioned  Lyman's  name 
in  his  official  despatch.  For  this  reason,  and  because 
they  unjustly  suspected  cowardice  in  Johnson  during 
the  battle,  and  because  they  saw  comparatively  little 
of  him  before  and  after  it,  withal  being  sectional  and 
clannish  in  their  opinions,  Johnson  was  extremely  un 
popular  with  the  New  England  soldiers.  Their  judg 
ments  have  mightily  influenced  the  accounts  of  the 


144  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

threefold  battle  of  Lake  George  as  found  in  the 
writings  of  New  England  annalists  and  historians. 

Johnson  was  at  once  rewarded  by  being  made  a 
baronet,  with  the  gift  of  five  thousand  pounds,  while 
Lyman  received  the  ordinary  stipend  of  his  rank, — 
another  ingredient  in  Johnson's  unpopularity  in  the 
Eastern  colonies. 

Three  days  after,  the  Iroquois  allies  waited  on  John 
son  and  informed  him  that,  according  to  custom,  af 
ter  losing  comrades  in  battle,  they  must  return  home 
to  cheer  their  people,  and  protect  their  castles  against 
the  Abenaki  Indians,  from  whom  they  feared  an  attack. 
It  was  in  vain  that  Johnson  tried  to  show  them  that 
the  campaign  had  hardly  begun,  and  to  persuade  them 
to  alter  their  purpose.  They  insisted  on  going  away, 
promising,  however,  to  come  again  soon  with  fresh 
zeal. 

Dissensions  and  jealousies  between  the  troops  of 
the  various  colonies  now  broke  out.  Both  the  gener 
als  commanding,  and  the  new  governor,  Hardy,  thought 
that  a  strong  fort  should  be  built  to  command  the 
water-way  to  Canada,  by  way  of  Lake  George. 
Though  as  important  for  the  defence  of  New  England 
as  of  New  York,  the  Eastern  officers  and  men  could 
not  see  the  need  of  a  fort  here,  and  the  work  dragged. 
When  finished,  it  was  called  by  the  courtier,  Johnson, 
Fort  William  Henry,  after  the  king's  grandson,  and 
had  a  notable  history.  Meanwhile,  owing  to  remiss- 
ness  of  contractors,  the  petty  jealousies  of  the  officers 
and  militia  of  five  or  more  colonies,  and  the  overcau- 
tiousness  of  Johnson,  nothing  aggressive  was  done. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  145 

Late  in  November,  the  fort  being  finished,  the  unpop 
ular  duty  of  garrisoning  it  devolved  upon  a  medley  of 
six  hundred  men  from  the  various  colonies.  The 
army  was  disbanded,  and  the  levies  marched  home. 
Johnson  resigned  his  commission,  and  returned  to 
Mount  Johnson  about  the  middle  of  December.  About 
ten  days  later  he  was  in  New  York,  enjoying,  as  well 
as  his  wound  would  allow,  the  parade  and  illumination 
of  the  city  in  his  honour ;  while  Dieskau  languished  in 
the  Schuyler  mansion  in  Albany,  waiting  for  some  of 
his  many  wounds  to  heal ;  and  Lyman  received  mod 
est  honours  at  home.  The  patent  of  Johnson's  baron 
etcy  was  dated  Nov.  27,  1755.  He  invested  the  four 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds  eighteen 
shillings  and  sixpence  which  came  into  his  hands,  in 
three  per  cent  bank  annuities. 

His  coat-of-arms  consisted  of  a  heart-shaped  shield 
held  and  flanked  on  either  side  by  an  Indian  equipped 
with  feathers,  medal,  quiver,  and  bow.  On  the  shield 
are  three  fleurs-de-lis ;  and  on  the  convex  band  across 
the  shield,  two  shells,  and  between  them  a  smaller 
heart,  on  which  lies  an  open  hand  supine.  Above  the 
shield  a  hand  grasps  a  dart.  The  motto  is  Deo 
Regique  Debeo.  The  full  inscription  of  the  blazon 
in  the  language  of  heraldry  is  given  in  the  standard 
books  which  treat  of  the  British  peerage. 


10 


146  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER   IX. 

BRITISH    FAILURES   PREPARING    FOR   AMERICAN 
INDEPENDENCE. 

THE  versatile  Johnson,  turning  from  military  to  civil 
duties,  remained  in  New  York  during  the  whole  of  the 
month  of  January,  1756.  The  men  then  in  control  of 
the  British  government,  with  their  usual  obtuseness, 
sent  another  sailor  to  do  the  work  of  a  statesman. 
Sir  Charles  Hardy,  after  appointing  October  2  as  a 
day  of  public  thanksgiving  for  the  victory  at  Lake 
George,  celebrated  it  himself  by  starting  on  a  visit  to 
Albany.  He  proposed  to  effect  such  a  resumption  of 
active  military  operations  as  would  secure  the  main 
object  of  the  great  expedition,  —  the  capture  of  Crown 
Point.  His  presence,  however,  was  fruitless,  and  he 
returned  to  New  York,  November  26.  Then,  on  the 
2d  of  December,  he  met  his  little  Parliament,  and  told 
them  all  about  the  victory  of  General  Johnson  or 
Baron  Dieskau.  The  stolid  Dutchmen  and  others 
were  unable,  as  the  Indian  orators  would  say,  "  to  see 
it  in  that  light."  They  could  not  do  other  than  anti 
cipate  the  verdict  of  the  critical  scholarship  of  this 
generation,  for  they  looked  upon  the  whole  affair  as 
"  a  failure  disguised  under  an  incidental  success." 
Further,  instead  of  hearing  that  the  English  flag 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  147 

waved  over  Crown  Point,  and  that  English  cannon 
guarded  the  narrows  of  Lake  Champlain,  they  were 
asked  to  pay  for  Fort  William  Henry  and  Fort  George, 
both  of  which  were  but  an  ordinary  day's  horseback- ride 
from  Albany.  At  the  same  time  Sir  Charles  demanded 
in  King  George's  name  a  permanent  revenue,  with 
which  to  pay  governors,  judges,  and  the  general  ex 
penses  of  the  government. 

To  the  first  proposition,  to  pay  their  share  of  expense 
for  forts  in  which  all  the  colonies  were  interested,  the 
Assembly  at  once  responded  favourably.  To  the  sec 
ond  they  gave  a  flat  refusal,  declaring  that  the  idea  of 
a  permanent  revenue  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
public  sentiment  of  the  colony. 

On  the  same  day  on  which  the  Assembly  met,  Gov 
ernor  Shirley  arrived  in  New  York.  Being,  by  the 
death  of  Braddock,  the  king's  chief  military  represen 
tative  in  America,  he  summoned  a  congress  of  colonial 
governors  to  meet  in  New  York  December  12.  With 
his  usual  extraordinary  mental  activity,  he  was  full  of 
schemes,  one  of  which  was  a  midwinter  campaign 
against  Ticonderoga.  The  congress  approved  of  it ; 
r.  it  the  hard-headed  members  of  the  Assembly,  the 
people  generally,  and  Johnson,  did  not.  With  all  ad 
miration  for  the  fussy  politician,  who  planned  superbly 
on  paper,  but  somehow  failed  in  the  field,  they  had  a 
sincere  respect,  which  was,  however,  tempered  by  ex 
cellent  common-sense. 

As  for  Shirley  and  Johnson,  they  seemed  always 
unable  to  work  harmoniously  together,  the  latter  re 
senting  what  he  believed  to  be  the  needless  inter- 


148  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

ference  of  the  other.  Shirley  found  Johnson  more 
than  a  match  for  him  in  the  rather  acrid  correspond 
ence  conducted  in  New  York  during  January.  Living 
but  a  few  rods  apart,  the  liveried  coloured  servants  of 
these  colonial  dignitaries  kept  their  soles  warm  in 
carrying  despatches.  In  jealousy  of  each  other,  the 
two  gentlemen  were  as  incompatible  as  Siamese  twins, 
their  only  common  ligament  being  loyalty  to  the 
Crown.  Johnson  was  determined  to  get  and  hold  his 
commission  from  the  Crown,  and  not  be  subject  to 
colonial  governors  or  assemblies.  He  laid  the  whole 
matter  before  the  Lords  of  Trade,  and  aided  by  his 
friends  at  Court,  secured  a  flattering  verdict  in  his 
favour.  In  July,  1756,  there  came  to  him  from  his 
Majesty's  Secretary,  Fox,  a  commission  as  Colonel, 
Agent,  and  sole  Superintendent  of  all  the  affairs  of  the 
Six  Nations,  and  other  Northern  Indians,  with  an  an 
nual  salary  of  six  hundred  pounds.  By  orders  from 
the  same  august  source,  the  Northern  colonies  were 
prohibited  from  transacting  business  with  the  Indians, 
so  that  the  whole  matter  was  settled  in  Johnson's 
hands. 

Being  now  well  intrenched  in  his  office  and  author 
ity,  Johnson,  with  his  usual  versatility  and  vigour, 
turned  from  the  duties  of  the  desk  and  council-room 
to  the  activities  of  the  field.  The  frontiers  of  New 
Hampshire  had  been  harassed  during  the  winter  by 
prowling  bands  of  savages,  but  the  French  now  at 
tempted  a  more  ambitious  raid.  Warned  by  Indian 
runners,  who  had  made  the  first  part  of  their  journey 
on  snow-shoes  from  Fort  Bull  at  the  Oneida  '•'  carry," 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  149 

he  at  once  sent  ammunition  to  the  garrison  of  thirty 
men.  On  skates  from  Montreal  to  Fort  Presentation, 
and  thence  on  snow-shoes  to  the  Oneida  portage,  the 
party  of  nearly  three  hundred  Frenchmen,  after  ten 
days  of  gliding  and  stepping,  appeared  before  the 
wooden  fort,  March  27.  Their  demand  for  surrender 
was  met  by  a  volley,  which  in  return  was  answered  by 
a  charge,  a  crushing  in  of  the  gate,  and  a  massacre  of 
all  but  five  of  the  garrison.  Among  the  military 
stores  destroyed  were  two  tons  of  powder.  About  the 
same  time  the  ship-carpenters  at  Oswego  became  the 
prey  of  raiding  Indians  from  Niagara,  who  returned 
with  three  prisoners  and  twelve  scalps.  Forays  were 
made  by  Canadian  savages,  even  into  Ulster  and 
Orange  Counties,  within  a  day's  horse-ride  of  New 
York. 

The  winter  was  unusually  mild,  which  caused  the 
utter  abandonment  of  Shirley's  expedition  to  Crown 
Point ;  while  the  numerous  petty  successes  of  the 
French  and  Indians  turned  the  faces  of  the  vacillating 
members  of  the  Iroquois  cantons  toward  Canada  as 
the  winning  side. 

Yet  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  New  York  Assembly 
was  slow  in  voting  supplies.  The  ultra-loyalists  who 
supported  Hardy,  who  was  backed  by  the  king  and 
his  council,  now  vented  their  maledictions  upon  the 
"  foreigners  "  who  made  the  cosmopolitan  population 
of  the  province,  and  their  representatives  in  the 
Assembly.  All  this  seems  strange  to  the  average  his 
toriographer,  especially  to  the  copyist  of  loyalist  or 
other  writers  who  rely  on  such  men  as  Golden,  Smith, 


150  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Jones,  Washington  Irving,  and  the  like,  for  their  ideas 
of  Colonial  New  York  and  her  people.  There  was 
good  reason  for  the  stubbornness  of  the  legislators. 
The  fact  is,  that  the  people  of  the  province  of  New 
York  were  mostly  descendants  of  the  sturdy  Repub 
licans  whe  had  fought  under  William  the  Silent.  They 
believed  that  the  encroachments  of  monarchy  —  that 
is,  one-man  power  —  were  more  dangerous  than  the 
raids  of  hostile  Indians.  The  Dutch,  Germans, 
Scots,  Irish,  Huguenots,  were  almost  a  unit  in  their 
democratic  ideas.  This  province,  unlike  others  of 
the  original  thirteen,  was  not  settled  by  people  of 
aristocratic  England,  in  which  a  republic,  once  begun, 
had  gone  to  pieces  inside  of  twelve  years,  but  by  men 
long  trained  in  self-government  and  in  a  republic. 
Even  their  forms  of  church  life  were  as  nurseries  for 
the  training  of  men  in  democratic  principles.  To  the 
loyalist  historian,  Jones,  a  Presbyterian  seems  to  be  a 
synonym  for  rebel,  of  whatever  name  or  strain  of 
blood.  Congregationalists,  fed  on  the  rhetoric  and 
oratory  of  Forefathers'  Day,  find  it  hard  to  believe  that 
the  democratic  idea  in  Church  and  State  flourished 
anywhere  outside  of  New  England.  The  New  York 
men  were  determined  at  all  hazards  —  even  the  haz 
ards  of  savage  desolation  —  to  resist  any  further 
trenching  upon  their  rights  by  King  George,  or  his 
subservient  Parliament,  or  his  bullying  governor. 

England  had  sent  over,  after  Clinton,  another  illit 
erate  sailor  to  enforce  a  fresh  demand,  —  even  the 
passage  of  a  law  for  settling  a  permanent  revenue  on 
a  solid  foundation ;  said  law  to  be  indefinite  and  with- 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  151 

out  limitation  of  time.  The  descendants  of  the  Hol 
landers  who  had  long  ago,  even  against  mighty  Spain, 
settled  the  principle  of  no  taxation  without  consent, 
and  had  maintained  it  in  a  war  of  eighty  years,  were 
resolved  to  fight  again  the  same  battle  on  American 
soil.  They  now  set  themselves  resolutely  to  resist 
the  demands  of  the  Crown,  and  this  whether  Indians 
were  in  Orange  County  or  at  Niagara.  Despite  the 
protests  of  such  incorrigible  Tories  as  Smith,  Colden, 
and  others  in  the  Executive  Council,  the  people's 
representatives  persevered. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  Assembly  gained  their 
point,  and  that  the  greatest  and  most  lasting  victory 
of  the  people  in  the  long  story  of  American  liberty 
was  won.  A  few  months  after,  at  the  autumn  session, 
the  joyful  news  reached  New  York  that  the  Crown 
had  virtually  repealed  the  instructions  to  Sir  Danvers 
Osborne,  which  had  made  the  colonists  of  New  York 
set  themselves  in  united  array  of  resistance  to  "  their 
most  gracious  sovereign." 

The  war  had  thus  far  been  carried  on  without  profes 
sion  or  declaration.  The  diplomatists  of  London  and 
Versailles  had  been  as  polite  and  full  of  smooth  words 
as  if  profound  peace  reigned.  The  English  were  fol 
lowing  their  old  trade  of  piracy,  and  had  captured 
hundreds  of  French  vessels,  and  imprisoned  thousands 
of  French  sailors.  The  French,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  doing  with  England  as  they  did  with  China  in 
1885,  when  they  bombarded  cities,  treacherously  got 
behind  forts  in  the  Pearl  River,  and  killed  thousands 
of  Chinese,  while  all  the  time  professing  to  be  at 


152  SIX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

peace.  At  length  the  British  went  through  the  for 
mality  of  declaring  war,  May  17.  On  the  French 
side,  the  necessary  parchment,  red  tape,  and  seals  were 
prepared,  and  the  official  ink  flowed  two  years  after 
blood  had  flowed  like  water. 

Now  at  last,  in  Pitt,  England  had  a  premier  who 
knew  something  about  the  geography  of  America ; 
and  "  geography,"  as  Von  Moltke  teaches,  "is  half  of 
war."  William  Pitt  thought  the  time  had  come  for 
intelligent  and  active  operations  looking  to  the  con 
quest  of  North  America  by  the  English.  His  first  se 
lection  of  men,  however,  was  not  particularly  wise  or 
evident  of  genius.  Listening  to  the  word  of  Johnson, 
and  others  in  New  York,  he  removed  Shirley  from  the 
chief  command,  and  sent  out,  successively,  Colonel 
Webb,  General  Abercrombie,  and  Lord  Loudon,  —  all 
of  them,  as  it  proved,  failures. 

The  three  men  appointed  were  alike  in  their  super 
cilious  contempt  for  American  militia  and  officers,  and 
were  all  destined,  through  their  ignorant  pride,  to  dis 
gust  Americans  with  English  ways,  and  steadily  to  de 
termine  them  toward  independence.  Abercrombie, 
on  his  arrival,  at  once  began  to  cast  firebrands  of  dis 
content  among  the  colonial  troops  by  nullifying  the 
intelligent  and  well-laid  plans  of  Shirley,  and  promul 
gating  the  exasperating  order  that  all  regular  officers 
were  to  be  over  those  in  the  colonial  service  of  the 
same  rank.  General  Winslow  fortunately  succeeded 
in  dissuading  the  Britisher  from  his  madness,  before 
desertions  and  threatened  resignations  became  too 
numerous  ;  but  with  the  compromise  that  the  imported 


AND    THE   SIX  NATIONS.  153 

soldiers  should  garrison  the  forts  while  the  Americans 
went  to  the  front.  In  other  words,  the  provincials 
were  to  see  and  do  the  severest  service.  Abercrombie 
further  showed  his  obstinacy  and  ignorance  of  affairs 
by  billeting  ten  thousand  soldiers  on  the  citizens  of 
Albany,  instead  of  at  once  advancing  to  Oswego.  He 
thus  unwittingly  helped  to  create  that  sentiment  against 
the  outraging  of  American  homes  by  the  forced  pres 
ence  of  soldiers  which,  later,  found  expression  for 
all  time  in  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Abercrombie  wasted  the  whole  sum 
mer  at  Schenectady,  which  now  became  the  headquar 
ters  of  the  armies.  It  was  determined  to  build  forts 
at  all  the  portages  between  this  town  and  Oswego,  as 
well  as  at  South  Bay,  to  protect  Fort  Edward.  While 
the  boat-yards  along  the  Mohawk  River  were  in  full 
activity,  and  stores  were  being  collected,  he  employed 
his  men  part  of  the  time  in  teaching  the  people  of 
Albany  and  Schenectady  how  to  build  earthworks  in 
European  style,  in  digging  ditches,  and  in  putting  up 
heavier  stockades  around  the  two  towns. 

One  of  the  good  things  done  by  Parliament  at  this 
time  was  the  formation  of  the  Royal  American  Regi 
ment  of  four  battalions,  each  a  thousand  strong.  Of 
the  fifty  officers  commissioned,  nearly  one  third  were 
Germans  and  Swiss.  Most  of  the  rank  and  file  were 
Palatine  and  Swiss- Germans  in  America,  who  enlisted 
for  three  years.  None  of  the  officers  could  rise  above 
the  rank  of  lieutenant- colonel,  and  the  Earl  of  Loudon 
was  appointed  first  colonel-in-chief.  Loudon  was  suc 
ceeded  in  1757  by  Abercrombie,  and  in  1758  by  Lord 


154  -SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Amherst.  Until  the  Revolutionary  War,  this  cosmo 
politan  regiment  did  noble  service  under  Stanwix, 
Bouquet,  Forbes,  Prideaux,  Wolfe,  and  Johnson. 
From  1757  to  1760  we  find  one  or  more  battalions 
of  the  regiment  in  active  service  in  the  various  parts 
of  New  York.  The  famous  Rev.  Michael  Schlatter, 
the  organizer  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in 
Pennsylvania,  was  the  regimental  chaplain.  On  the 
1 5th  of  June,  1756,  the  forty  German  officers  who 
were  to  raise  the  recruits  arrived,  one  of  the  ablest 
being  Colonel  Bouquet.  This  Swiss  officer,  with  the 
Germans,  at  Bushy  Run  in  Pennsylvania  largely  re 
trieved  the  disasters  caused  by  Braddock's  defeat,  and 
restored  the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  to  comparative 
safety  and  comfort. 

While  Abercrombie,  who  was  one  of  those  military 
men  whose  reliance  is  less  upon  the  sword  than  the 
spade,  was  digging  ditches  in  Albany,  Johnson  was  ar 
ranging  for  a  great  Indian  council  at  his  house  on  the 
Mohawk.  He  had  in  view  the  double  purpose  of 
winning  the  Delawares  and  other  Pennsylvania  tribes 
from  war  against  the  English  colonists,  and  of  induc 
ing  all  the  Northern  Indians  to  join  in  the  expedition 
against  the  French  posts  on  Lake  Ontario.  Brad- 
dock's  defeat  had  been  the  signal  for  the  Delawares, 
under  the  direct  influence  of  the  French,  to  break  the 
peace  of  more  than  seventy  years,  and  to  scatter  fire 
and  blood  in  Pennsylvania,  from  the  Monongahela  to 
the  Delaware.  The  solemn  treaty  of  Penn  —  which 
Voltaire,  with  more  wit  than  truth,  declared  was 
"  never  sworn  to  and  never  broken  "  —  was  now  a  thing 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  155 

of  the  past.  The  wampum  was  unravelled,  and  the 
men  with  hats  and  the  men  with  scalp-locks  were  in 
deadly  conflict.  While  the  Friends  remained  at  their 
Philadelphia  firesides,  the  German  and  Scotch  settlers 
on  the  frontier  bore  the  brunt  of  savage  fury.  When 
public  action  was  taken,  it  was  in  the  double  and  con 
tradictory  form  of  peace-belts  of  wampum  sent  by  the 
Friends,  and  a  declaration  of  war  by  Governor  Morris. 
In  this  mixed  state  of  things  it  was  hard  for  Johnson 
to  know  what  to  do.  Through  his  influence  the  Iro- 
quois,  uncles  and  masters,  had  summoned  by  wam 
pum  belts  their  nephews  and  vassals  to  the  great 
conference  which  was  opened  at  his  house  in  Febru 
ary,  1756.  To  prepare  for  this,  Johnson  had  made  a 
journey  to  the  council-fire  of  the  Confederacy  at  Onon- 
daga,  arriving  June  15.  There  he  succeeded  in  neu 
tralizing  in  part  the  work  done  by  the  French,  and 
obtained  an  important  concession.  The  Iroquois 
voted  to  allow  a  road  to  be  opened  through  the  very 
heart  of  their  empire  to  Oswego,  and  a  fort  to  be 
built  at  Oswego  Falls. 

These  severe  exertions  cost  Johnson  a  fit  of  sick 
ness  ;  but  on  the  yth  of  July  he  met  the  Iroquois,  Del- 
awares,  and  Shawanese  at  his  house.  After  the  usual 
consumption,  on  both  sides,  of  wampum,  verbosity, 
and  rum,  all  the  Indians  were  won  over  to  the  Eng 
lish  cause.  The  covenant  chain  of  peace  was  re 
newed,  the  war-belts  were  accepted  by  the  sachems, 
and  medals  hung  around  their  necks  by  Johnson 
himself.  The  Delawares  had  "  their  petticoats  taken 
off,"  — or,  in  other  words,  they  were  no  longer  squaws 


156  67#    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


in  the  eyes  of  the  Iroquois,  but  allies,  friends,  and  men. 
Without  detracting  from  Johnson's  reputation,  it  is 
probable  that  the  possession  by  many  of  the  Dela- 
wares  of  the  rifles  made  by  the  Pennsylvania  Swiss  and 
Germans,  which  gave  them  such  an  advantage  over 
Dutch  and  English  smooth-bores,  had  much  to  do 
with  winning  the  respect  of  the  Iroquois. 

Through  Johnson's  influence  two  councils  were  held 
in  Pennsylvania,  at  Easton,  when  the  Delawares  un 
der  their  great  chief,  Teedyuscung,  met  delegations  of 
the  Iroquois  and  Governor  Denny.  Teedyuscung  had 
for  his  secretary  "  the  Man  of  Truth,"  Charles  Thomp 
son,  master  of  the  Friends'  Free  School  in  Philadel 
phia.  The  proceedings  lasted  nine  days  ;  Denny  by 
his  tact  being  able  "  to  put  his  hand  in  Teedyuscung's 
bosom  and  draw  out  the  secret  "  of  his  uneasiness. 
The  council  was  adjourned  to  Lancaster  in  the  spring 
of  1757,  when,  however,  the  Delaware  chief  failed  to 
appear.  Nevertheless  peace  was  obtained  on  the 
Pennsylvania  borders,  the  credit  for  which  was  claimed 
by  the  Senecas. 

To  turn  now  to  the  field  of  war,  we  find  that  Gov 
ernor  Shirley  had  organized  a  corps  of  armed  boat 
men,  and  had  sent  them  under  Colonel  Bradstreet  to 
Oswego.  Bradstreet  was  successful  in  thus  provision 
ing  the  forts  with  a  six  months'  store  for  five  thousand 
men.  After  his  brilliant  exploit  he  was  attacked  on 
his  way  back,  three  leagues  from  the  fort,  by  De  Vil- 
liers  with  eleven  hundred  men.  Despite  the  sudden 
fury  of  the  attack,  Bradstreet  beat  off  the  enemy  with 
loss,  only  a  heavy  rain  preventing  his  gaining  a  greater 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  157 

victory.  Reaching  Albany,  he  urged  General  Aber- 
crombie  to  march  at  once  to  the  forts.  A  large  expe 
dition  under  Montcalm  was  already  on  its  way  to 
remove  these,  the  chief  obstacles  to  their  plans  of  em 
pire.  Johnson  in  person  seconded  Bradstreet's  ap 
peal,  urging  that  if  Oswego  fell,  the  Iroquois  would  be 
sure  to  join  the  French.  Abercrombie  stupidly  re 
fused  to  move  until  Lord  Loudon's  arrival,  and  the 
golden  opportunity  was  lost. 

This  slow- minded  personage,  Lord  Loudon,  the 
Scotsman,  reached  Albany  on  the  2Qth  of  July;  but 
correct  ideas  as  to  the  situation  percolated  into  his 
brain  with  difficulty.  Indeed,  as  with  Sydney  Smith's 
proverbial  joke  about  the  Scotchman's  skull,  it  seemed 
necessary  to  perform  a  surgical  operation  in  order  to 
show  him  how  needful  it  was  to  march  at  once  to 
Oswego,  notwithstanding  that  Montcalm  with  his  host 
was  daily  approaching. 

While  Loudon  was  fooling  away  his  time  in  jealousy 
of  the  provincial  militia,  and  sending  a  force  in  the 
wrong  direction  at  Crown  Point,  Montcalm  with  three 
thousand  troops  and  plenty  of  cannon,  part  of  which 
had  been  captured  from  Braddock,  settled  himself 
before  Oswego.  Of  the  three  forts  garrisoned  by 
Shirley's  and  PepperelPs  regiments  of  New  England 
men,  only  one  was  able  to  stand  a  protracted  siege. 
All  assembled  in  this  fort,  Ontario,  and  fought 
gallantly  until  Colonel  Mercer  was  cut  in  half  by  a 
cannon-shot.  Then  a  panic  ensued.  The  one  hun 
dred  women  in  the  fort  begged  that  the  place  should 
be  surrendered,  and  the  white  flag  was  shortly  after- 


158  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

ward  hoisted.  The  forts  were  burned,  and  the  place 
left  a  desolation,  in  which  the  priest,  Picquet,  set  up 
a  lofty  cross,  and  beside  it  the  arms  of  France.  The 
French  were  now  masters  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  of  the 
passages  by  land  and  water  to  the  Ohio,  and  free  to 
attack  the  Lake  George  forts.  They  found  themselves 
enriched  to  the  extent  of  sixteen  hundred  prisoners, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  cannon,  six  ships  of  war, 
three  hundred  boats,  three  chests  of  money,  besides 
a  great  quantity  of  provisions  and  the  stores  of  war. 
The  destruction  instead  of  the  occupation  of  the  forts 
was  a  master  stroke  of  policy  in  favor  of  conciliating 
the  Six  Nations. 

In  this  affair  Montcalm  showed  the  nobility  of  his 
nature  in  protecting,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  the  pris 
oners  from  massacre.  When  the  Indians,  filled  with 
rum,  had  turned  into  devils,  and  were  sinking  their 
hatchets  in  the  brains  of  the  unarmed,  Montcalm,  as 
the  eyewitness  John  Viele  of  Schenectady  on  his  re 
turn  testified  before  Johnson,  ordered  out  his  troops 
and  fired  on  the  brutes.  Six  of  the  drunken  savages 
were  shot  dead.  The  murdering  ceased  at  once,  and 
there  was  no  massacre. 

London  the  lazy  had  finally  awaked  to  the  situation, 
and  sent  General  Webb  with  twelve  hundred  men  to 
reinforce  Oswego.  At  the  Oneida  portage  Webb 
heard  of  the  surrender,  and  hoping  to  delay  the  French 
who  were  advancing,  as  he  supposed,  on  Albany,  he 
had  some  trees  chopped  down  to  delay  their  boats. 
He  then  hastily  retreated  to  the  fort  at  German  Flats. 
Johnson,  at  Albany,  heard  the  news  August  20,  and 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  159 

under  London's  orders,  with  two  battalions  of  the 
Valley  militia  and  a  corps  of  three  hundred  Indians, 
hastened  to  reinforce  Webb.  Remaining  in  camp  fif 
teen  days,  until  hearing  of  the  removal  of  the  French, 
he  dismissed  the  militia  and  returned  home. 

So  passed  another  year  of  failure.  John  Campbell, 
Scotsman,  otherwise  called  Earl  of  Loudon,  had  been 
sent  out  as  the  representative  of  Lord  Halifax  and  of 
the  Lords  of  Trade.  Having  decided  to  unite  all  the 
colonies  under  military  rule,  and  force  them  to  sup 
port  a  standing  army,  they  selected  this  man,  who 
was  strong  in  the  idea  of  colonial  subordination,  but 
was  vacillating,  incapable,  vain,  wasteful,  and  lazy. 
His  first  winter  campaign  consisted  chiefly  in  scolding 
Shirley,  and  making  the  Massachusetts  governor  the 
scapegoat  for  his  own  shortcomings ;  in  disgusting  the 
people  of  New  York  by  billeting  his  officers  upon 
them ;  and  in  both  New  York  and  Boston  diligently 
hastening  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  Great 
Britain  by  making  a  fool  of  himself  generally. 

With  the  regulars  in  winter  quarters,  the  militia 
dismissed  to  their  homes,  the  whole  frontier,  except  in 
the  Lake  George  region,  open  and  exposed,  five  of 
the  Six  Nations  practically  alienated  from  the  Eng 
lish  and  already  making  terms  with  the  French,  the 
outlook  was  dark. 

However,  the  Mohawks  were  faithful ;  and  Johnson 
took  heart,  believing  he  could  yet  win  and  hold  the 
Iroquois.  Sending  his  captains,  the  two  Butlers,  and 
Jellis  Fonda  to  the  various  castles,  and  to  the  fireplace 
of  the  Confederacy  at  Onondaga,  he  appointed  a  great 


160  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHATSON 

council  to  meet,  June  10,  1757.  Meanwhile  he 
sent  the  Mohawks  out  upon  the  war-path,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  of  hearing  of  the  repulse  of  the  French 
and  the  safe  defence  of  the  Fort  William  Henry  which 
he  had  built  two  years  before  at  Lake  George.  Major 
William  Eyre,  the  ordnance  officer  who  had  served 
the  guns  so  efficiently  at  the  battle  of  Lake  George 
against  Dieskau's  regulars,  was  in  command  of  the 
fort,  with  four  hundred  men.  The  commander  of  the 
American  rangers,  with  Eyre,  was  John  Stark.  The 
long  and  dreary  winter  was  nearly  over,  and  Saint 
Patrick's  Day  was  at  hand.  The  French  knew  as 
well  that  the  Irish  soldiers  would  be  drunk  on  the 
1 8th  of  March,  as  Washington  knew  that  the  Hes 
sians  would  be  unfit  for  clear-headed  fighting  the  day 
after  Christmas.  Fortunately,  through  the  thought- 
fulness  of  the  future  hero  of  Bennington,  his  own 
rangers  were  kept  sober  by  enforced  total  abstinence, 
and  the  Irish  had  the  rum  and  drunkenness  all  to 
themselves.  The  French  force  of  fifteen  hundred 
regulars,  wood-rangers,  and  savages  came  down  the 
lakes  on  the  ice,  dragging,  each  man,  his  sledge  con 
taining  provisions,  arms,  and  various  equipments, 
among  which  were  three  hundred  scaling-ladders. 
They  began  a  furious  attack  at  sunrise  on  the  i8th, 
expecting  easy  victory;  but  Eyre  used  his  artillery 
with  such  deadly  effect  that  despite  four  separate 
attacks  within  twenty-four  hours,  the  expedition  ended 
in  total  failure.  Seized  with  a  panic,  the  besiegers 
fled,  leaving  their  sledges  and  much  valuable  property 
behind,  besides  their  dead. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  161 

Johnson  first  heard  of  this  event  in  a  letter  from 
Colonel  Gage,  —  him  who  married  an  American 
wife,  and  afterward  occupied  Boston  with  the  red 
coats,  only  to  be  compelled  to  leave  it  at  the  re 
quest  of  Washington,  his  old  comrade-in-arms  on 
Braddock's  Field.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that 
Colonel  Gage  has  unwittingly  furnished  Yankee  Boston 
with  a  public  holiday  in  honour  of  Ireland's  patron, 
Saint  Patrick,  —  which  the  Irish  majority  in  the  Bos 
ton  City  Council  first  inaugurated  in  1890,  under  the 
disguise  of  "  Evacuation  Day."  The  date  which  the 
Frenchmen  chose  for  their  approach  to  Fort  William 
Henry  was  the  date  also  on  which  Gage,  in  1775, 
sailed  away  to  the  land  whence  the  Canadians  had 
come  in  1757. 

Johnson's  tremendous  energies  now  shone  forth. 
He  at  once  summoned  the  Mohawk  Valley  militia, 
and  sent  his  trusty  interpreter,  Arent  Stevens,  to  rouse 
the  Mohawks.  The  meeting-place  was  at  his  house. 
The  news  came  on  Sunday  the  24th ;  and  on  Mon 
day,  at  daylight,  the  column  of  twelve  hundred 
militia  and  the  Indians  were  on  the  march  which 
in  less  than  four  days  brought  them  to  Fort  William 
Henry. 

Finding  the  enemy  gone,  Johnson  allowed  his  men 
two  days'  rest,  and  was  about  to  start  homeward, 
when  hearing  that  the  French  meditated  a  blow  on 
the  frontier  village  of  German  Flats,  he  kept  in  the 
saddle  all  night,  reaching  home  at  four  A.  M.  Fortu 
nately  the  news  was  not  confirmed ;  but  he  neverthe 
less  ordered  the  militia  to  Burnet's  Field,  and  made 
ii 


162  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON-. 

his  headquarters  there.  This  energetic  action  had  a 
good  effect  upon  the  Iroquois  who  had  been  invited 
to  the  grand  council  at  Fort  Johnson,  as  his  house 
was  now  called,  and  on  the  loth  of  June  the  proceed 
ings  were  duly  opened.  The  result  of  the  ten  days' 
conference  was  that  the  neutrality  of  the  Senecas, 
Cayugas,  and  Onondagas  was  secured ;  while  the  three 
other  tribes — the  Oneidas,  Tuscaroras,  and  Mohawks 
—  were  heartily  enlisted  to  fight  for  the  English  against 
the  French. 

Summer  passed  away  in  Johnson's  despatching  In 
dian  parties  to  Canada ;  in  Governor  Hardy's  return 
ing  to  the  more  congenial  quarter-deck,  exchanging 
civil  for  naval  life ;  in  Loudon's  making  a  grand 
failure  at  Louisburg,  as  usual  blaming  the  colonial 
officers  and  troops  for  his  own  blunders ;  and  in  the 
shameful  loss  of  Fort  William  Henry  through  the  cow 
ardice  of  General  Webb. 

Johnson  had  warned  Webb  of  the  coming  of  Mont- 
calm  with  nearly  eight  thousand  men,  including  a  body 
of  Indians  said  to  be  gathered  from  forty-one  tribes. 
On  the  ist  of  August,  while  holding  a  council  with  the 
Cherokees  at  his  house,  he  received  news  from  Gen 
eral  Webb  that  Montcalm  was  moving  down  upon 
Colonel  Monro,  who  with  two  thousand  men  occupied 
the  fort  and  adjoining  camp.  Johnson  at  once  ad 
journed  the  council,  and  summoning  the  militia  and 
Mohawks,  quickly  reached  Fort  Edward,  and  begged 
to  be  sent  to  reinforce  Monro.  The  double-minded 
Webb  at  first  consented,  and  then  ordered  him  back. 
Within  sound  of  the  cannon,  Webb  held  back  his 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  163 

whole  force,  and  sent  Monro  a  note  advising  him  to 
surrender.  Only  when  his  ammunition  was  nearly  ex 
hausted,  his  heavy  cannon  burst,  three  hundred  of  his 
men  killed  or  wounded,  many  others  helpless  with 
small- pox,  and  the  outlook  hopeless,  did  Monro  sur 
render.  As  usual,  the  Indians,  many  of  them  from 
tribes  utterly  unused  to  any  control,  got  at  the  rum- 
barrels,  and  were  converted  into  devils,  whom  Mont- 
calm  in  vain  endeavoured  to  control,  until  after  they  had 
butchered  scores  of  Monro's  unarmed  people,  includ 
ing  women  and  children.  The  fort  and  barracks  were 
burned,  and  on  great  heaps  of  the  fuel  thus  obtained 
the  bodies  of  the  slain  were  given  cremation. 

Webb,  almost  scared  out  of  his  wits,  would  have 
moved  southward  to  West  Point,  but  that  Lord  Howe, 
who  had  arrived  with  reinforcements,  calmed  him. 
Almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  blame  was  laid  by 
the  British  officers  and  regulars  on  the  provincial 
troops.  This  military  bigotry,  and  the  inveterate 
prejudice  of  the  regulars  against  volunteers  had  a 
tremendous  effect  in  making  the  native-born  militia 
suspect  that  they  could  some  day  do  without  the  su 
percilious  and  conceited  king's  servants.  They  saw 
that  most  of  the  hard  fighting  had  been  done  by  mili 
tiamen  at  the  front,  who,  notwithstanding  the  immense 
resources  of  Great  Britain,  were  not  properly  sup 
ported  at  the  right  time.  They  were  tired  of  being 
led  to  the  slaughter  by  fussy,  incompetent,  and  often 
cowardly  commanders.  They  noted,  also,  that  the 
regulars  were  mostly  kept  in  garrison,  while  the  militia 
were  sent  to  the  front,  where,  usually  in  battle  with  the 


1 64  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Indians,  the  Americans  stood  their  ground,  fighting 
behind  trees,  while  the  handsomely  uniformed  regu 
lars  were  flying  to  the  rear.  Further  yet,  the  regu 
lars  stationed  in  the  forts  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  were 
so  arrogant  and  conceited  as  to  look  —  as  the  aver 
age  Englishman  is  so  apt  to  do  —  upon  the  Dutch 
men  and  Germans  as  a  sort  of  inferior  cattle.  The 
consequence  was  that  they  were  practically  useless  as 
defenders. 

Johnson  was  so  heartily  disgusted  with  the  state  of 
affairs  that  it  is  probable  that  his  sickness  in  October 
and  November  was  a  direct  result  of  exposure  in  camp, 
and  distraction  of  mind.  He  knew  that  the  French 
would  now  at  the  first  opportunity  strike  the  western 
frontier.  He  therefore  wrote  to  Abercrombie  in  Sep 
tember,  to  reinforce  the  Valley  forts  and  send  scouts 
and  rangers  to  German  Flats.  All  such  warnings,  how 
ever,  were  like  "an  east  wind  in  an  ass's  ears."  Aber 
crombie  and  his  men  drilled,  drank,  swore,  gambled, 
dug  ditches,  and  caricatured  the  Dutch  people  in 
church,  and  otherwise  amused  themselves  in  Albany. 
At  German  Flats  the  long  strain  of  duty  in  watch  and 
ward  resulted  in  the  inevitable  reaction;  and  when 
the  danger  was  greatest  and  nearest,  the  nerves  re 
laxed,  the  midnight  lantern  went  out,  and  the  sentinel 
and  people  alike  slept.  The  friendly  Oneidas  informed 
the  Germans,  fifteen  days  in  advance,  of  the  enemy's 
movements.  A  week  later,  a  chief  came  in  person  to 
warn  them  ;  but  the  people  took  it  as  a  joke,  laughed  in 
his  face,  and  sent  no  word  to  Johnson.  Tired  of  hearing 
the  cry  of  "  wolf,"  they  neglected  to  provide  for  their 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  165 

sheep.  Despite  the  fort,  the  block-houses,  and  the 
militia  company  of  one  hundred  men,  the  blow  fell. 
Fortunately  the  minister  and  some  of  his  people  heeded 
the  friendly  warning  of  the  Oneidas,  and  the  day  be 
fore  the  attack,  crossed  the  river  to  a  place  of  safety. 
Those  left  were  infatuated  until  the  last  moment. 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  Nov.  13,  1757,  that  the 
Canadian,  Belletre,  and  his  three  hundred  white  and 
red  savages  surrounded  the  doomed  village,  raised  the 
yell,  and  began  the  attack.  The  people  were  dazed. 
After  some  fitful  musketry- firing,  the  Indians  succeeded 
in  setting  the  houses  on  fire,  and  in  tomahawking  and 
scalping  the  people  as  they  rushed  out  of  the  flames. 
One  of  the  block-houses  was  surrendered  by  the  head 
man  of  the  village,  who  asked  for  quarter.  Numbers  of 
the  people  were  killed  as  they  ran  out  to  the  fording- 
place  of  the  river  to  escape  to  the  opposite  side,  or 
were  shot  while  in  the  water.  The  settlement  was 
totally  destroyed.  Of  the  three  "hundred  people,  a 
sixth  were  killed  and  one  half  taken  prisoners ;  the 
remainder  escaped,  or  had  already  fled  to  Fort  Herki- 
mer.  The  abundant  live-stock  was  destroyed  or  driven 
off,  and  the  place  left  in  ashes.  All  this  was  done  al 
most  under  the  eyes  of  the  commander  of  Fort  Her- 
kimer,  but  a  short  distance  off,  across  the  Mohawk 
River.  Having  a  small  garrison,  he,  though  fully 
warned  by  Oneida  Indians  of  the  coming  blow,  was 
unable  to  send  assistance,  and  perhaps  anticipated  an 
attack  on  his  own  post. 

The  people  of  Stone  Arabia  and  Cherry  Valley  were 
excited,  and  prepared  to  leave  these  places  when  the 


1 66  S/fi    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

escaped  refugees  brought  the  news.  Lord  Howe, 
with  his  reinforcements,  though  too  late  for  action, 
prevented  the  depopulation  of  the  settlements. 

The  sage  Lord  Loudon  heard  of  this  latest  disaster 
while  in  Albany,  and  his  conduct  was  characteristic. 
Eager  to  find  a  victim  on  whom  to  vent  his  rage  and 
to  bear  his  own  and  his  officers'  shortcomings,  he 
blamed  the  Iroquois,  and  even  proposed  to  make  war 
against  them.  It  was,  probably,  only  by  the  active 
persuasion  of  Johnson  that  he  was  turned  from  his 
madness. 

Imagination  vainly  seeks  to  picture  the  results  had 
Loudon,  the  grand  master  of  Great  Britain's  resources, 
even  begun  his  folly,  and  broken  the  peace  league 
which  Van  Curler  had  made,  Schuyler  extended,  and 
Johnson  perfected.  Had  he  practically  betrayed  his 
country  by  turning  the  whole  Indian  power  of  the 
continent  over  to  the  French,  the  history  of  this  coun 
try  would  have  been  vastly  different  from  that  we 
know.  Had  Johnson  done  nothing  else  than  pre 
vent  this,  he  would  deserve  a  high  place  among  the 
Makers  of  America. 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  167 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   HEAVEN-BORN   GENERAL. 

IT  is  hard  for  Americans  to  realize  that  the  French 
and  Indian  War  was  more  costly  to  Great  Britain  than 
was  the  War  of  the  American  Revolution.  As  matter 
of  fact,  the  British  Government  sent  a  larger  total  of 
soldiers  and  sailors,  and  spent  more  blood  and  treas 
ure  in  defending  the  colonies  and  in  wresting  North 
America  from  the  French,  than  in  endeavouring  to 
coerce  the  revolted  colonies.  Though  in  the  various 
attempts  at  the  reduction  of  Canada,  no  large  armies 
like  those  of  Burgoyne  or  Cornwallis  were  lost  by  sur 
render,  yet  the  number  of  men  slaughtered  in  siege 
and  battle  was  greater,  and  the  expeditions  being  in 
the  wilderness  were  much  more  costly.  To  throw  a 
bomb  into  the  Niagara  fort  was  like  dropping  a  globe 
of  silver ;  to  fire  canister,  like  scattering  a  Dansean 
shower  of  guineas ;  while  every  effective  bullet  re 
quired  an  outlay  of  pounds,  as  well  as  of  shillings  and 
pence. 

Before  the  decision  of  the  long  controversy  between 
Latin  and  Teutonic  civilization  in  America,  at  the  fall 
of  Quebec,  another  terrible  disaster,  caused  largely  by 
British  arrogance  and  contempt  of  American  ex 
perience,  remains  to  be  recorded.  This  time  it  was 


1 68  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

to  be  linked  not  with  the  name  of  Braddock  or 
London,  but  with  that  of  Abercrombie. 

Under  the  quickening  touch  of  the  master-hand  of 
Pitt,  who  knew  the  topography  of  America,  and  had 
appointed  the  "  young  madman "  Wolfe  to  super 
sede  Loudon,  Louisburg,  Ticonderoga,  and  Fort  Du 
Quesne  were  chosen  as  points  of  attack.  Of  the  three 
expeditions  planned,  Abercrombie  was  chosen  to  lead 
that  which  was  to  move  to  Canada  by  the  great  water 
way  of  Eastern  New  York. 

We  need  not  here  repeat  the  oft-told  story  of  the 
capture  of  Louisburg  by  Amherst  and  Wolfe ;  or  that 
of  the  fall  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  which  Washington 
named  Pittsburg.  Tremendous  enthusiasm  was  kin 
dled  in  the  colonies  at  the  news  of  these  successes. 
In  England,  when  the  stands  of  French  colours,  after 
being  carried  through  the  streets  of  London  and  laid 
at  the  feet  of  King  George,  were  hung  up  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  the  whole  nation  took  fresh  courage, 
and  believed  final  victory  near.  The  name  of  the 
dashing  and  spirited  Wolfe  was  on  every  tongue; 
though  the  other  heroes  were  not  forgotten.  In  New 
England  the  names  of  the  successful  British  leaders 
were  made  monumental  in  geography.  Such  places 
as  Wolfboro,  Amherst,  Boscawen,  and  many  others  on 
the  map,  almost  as  numerous  as  the  grains  shaken 
from  a  pepper-box,  testify  to  popular  gratitude  and 
enthusiasm. 

A  different  story  is  that  of  Abercrombie's  expedi 
tion.  For  the  reduction  of  the  French  fortress  on 
Lake  Corlaer,  or  Champlain,  the  largest  army  ever 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  169 

gathered  on  the  continent  was  encamped  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  George.  Of  the  sixteen  thousand  men 
about  three  fifths  were  brilliantly  uniformed  British 
regulars.  For  the  first  time  the  pavonine  dress  of  the 
bare-legged  Highlanders  was  seen  on  large  bodies  of 
men  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Among  the  Ameri 
can  militia  officers  were  Stark,  Putnam,  Bradstreet, 
and  Rogers.  The  following  of  Sir  William  Johnson 
was  three  hundred  Indians.  In  over  one  thousand 
boats,  with  banners  and  music,  the  host  moved  down 
the  lake,  making  a  superb  pageant.  In  the  first  skir 
mish  in  the  woods  between  Lake  George  and  Ticon- 
deroga,  the  gallant  Lord  Howe  was  killed.  With 
Howe,  fell  the  real  head  and  leading  mind  of  the  ex 
pedition  for  the  capture  of  Fort  Carillon,  or  Ticonder- 
oga.  Without  waiting  for  his  artillery,  which,  being 
loaded  on  rafts,  came  more  slowly,  Abercrombie,  on 
the  morning  of  July  8,  ordered  an  attack  on  the  French 
abattis  which  had  been  made  by  Montcalm,  two 
hundred  yards  in  front  of  the  fort  itself. 

This  movement  was  against  the  advice  of  John 
Stark,  who  saw  in  the  Frenchman's  line  of  defence  a 
solid  breastwork  of  logs.  He  knew,  also,  that  the 
trees,  cut  down  and  laid  with  their  branches  outward 
over  the  space  of  three  hundred  feet  in  front  of  the 
breastwork,  would  throw  the  attacking  platoons  and 
columns  out  of  order.  With  Braddock-like  contempt 
for  a  provincial  captain's  advice,  Abercrombie,  for 
getting  how  the  rude  brushwood  defence  at  Lake 
George  had  enabled  the  militia  to  repulse  Dieskau's 
regulars,  ignored  the  hints  given  by  Stark.  Taking 


170  SSX    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

care  to  remain  safely  at  the  saw-mills,  some  distance 
in  the  rear,  Abercrombie  sent  forward  his  men  in  four 
columns. 

It  was  but  a  few  minutes  before  all  formations  were 
hopelessly  lost  in  the  jungle  of  brushwood.  When 
Highlanders,  rangers,  British,  and  Yankees  were  well 
entangled,  sheets  of  fire  issued  from  a  line  of  heads 
behind  the  log  breastwork,  while  the  French  artillery 
also  played  bloody  havoc.  Abercrombie,  hearing  of 
the  initial  disaster,  left  the  saw-mills  and  made  off 
with  himself  to  the  boat-landing ;  thence,  issuing  his 
orders  for  attacks  on  the  left,  the  right,  and  the  centre. 
For  five  hours,  without  flinching,  the  victims  of  mili 
tary  incompetence  furnished  food  for  French  powder, 
and  then  broke  into  disorderly  retreat.  The  whole 
army  followed  their  commander,  and,  when  at  the 
boats,  would  have  sunk  them  in  their  mad  rush,  but 
for  the  coolness  and  firmness  of  Colonel  Bradstreet. 
It  is  said  that  the  French  found,  stuck  in  the  mud,  five 
hundred  pairs  of  shoes. 

The  Highlanders  —  old  retainers  of  the  Stuarts,  but 
organized  by  Pitt  to  fight  for  the  Guelphs  —  lost  in  this 
battle  one  half  of  their  number.  The  total  loss  of  the 
English  was  nearly  two  thousand  men.  Montcalm, 
the  skilful  soldier,  covered  himself  with  glory.  The 
Indians  under  Johnson,  being  on  the  top  of  a  hill, 
took  no  part  in  the  fight,  though  active  as  spectators. 

Abercrombie  retreated  to  the  site  of  Fort  William 
Henry  at  the  head  of  Lake  George.  The  wildest  ru 
mours  of  the  advancing  victorious  French  army  now 
prevailed  at  Albany  and  in  the  Valley ;  but  Johnson 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  171 

did  much  to  allay  fear  and  restore  confidence  by 
sending  out  the  militia,  doubling  the  guards,  and  gar 
risoning  the  forts  and  block-houses.  Largely  through 
his  earnest  appeals;? in  person,  to  Abercrombie,  Gen 
eral  Stanwix  was  sent  with  a  large  force  to  build  a 
spacious  fort  at  the  one  place  where  direct  boat  navi 
gation  between  Schenectady  and  Oswego  is  interrupted. 
This  portage  of  four  miles  —  reduced  to  one  mile  by 
ditching  and  clearing  out  the  streams  —  was  between 
the  Mohawk  River  and  Wood  Creek,  and  made  a 
point  of  highest  strategic  importance.  The  fort  — 
which  was  built  and  named  Fort  Stanwix  —  had  after 
ward  a  notable  military  history. 

From  this  point  Colonel  Bradstreet,  having  obtained 
by  a  bare  majority  in  a  council  of  war  permission  to 
attack  Fort  Frontenac,  which  for  three  years  he  had 
longed  to  do,  set  out  with  twenty- seven  hundred 
militia,  eleven  hundred  of  whom  were  from  New  York. 
Johnson,  who  had  sent  Capt.  Thomas  Butler  with 
forty-two  Indians,  received  from  him,  under  date  of 
August  28,  1758,  the  joyful  news  of  Bradstreet's  com 
plete  victory,  which,  all  considered,  compensated  for 
the  disaster  of  Abercrombie.  It  cleared  Lake  Ontario 
of  all  French  shipping,  and  was  in  relative  influence 
and  importance  fully  equal  to  Perry's  victory  on  Lake 
Erie,  over  half  a  century  later.  None  rejoiced  more 
than  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  the  victims  of  the 
Schenectady  massacre  of  1690,  which  had  been  insti 
gated  by  Frontenac,  after  whom  the  fort  had  been 
named. 

During  this  year  Johnson  was  unusually  active  with 


172  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

the  Indians,  in  holding  their  loyalty  to  the  British 
side  or  in  maintaining  their  neutrality.  Many  gath 
erings  were  held  at  his  own  house.  In  the  great 
council  held  at  Easton,  Penn.,  in  October,  1758,  five 
hundred  Indians  were  present,  including  delegates 
from  all  the  Six  Nations,  the  Shawanese,  Miamis,  and 
Moheganders.  The  principal  figure  was  Teedyus- 
cung,  who  insisted  on  his  people  being  treated  with 
the  same  dignities  accorded  to  the  Iroquois.  Indeed, 
if  the  explanation  of  the  Delawares  be  accepted,  they 
had,  in  times  long  before,  and  at  the  earnest  request 
of  the  Indians  both  north  and  south  of  them,  volun 
tarily  and  by  solemn  treaty  assumed  a  subordinate 
position  as  warriors  and  refrained  from  war,  in  order 
to  preserve  peace,  trade,  and  the  general  good  of 
the  whole  community  of  red  men.  They  claimed, 
however,  that  it  was  Iroquois  overreaching  in  di 
plomacy  and  even  downright  treachery,  that  made 
them  seem  to  "  accept  the  petticoat "  and  become 
"  squaws."  It  is  certain  that  Teedyuscung  made  it 
the  aim  of  his  life  to  secure  for  his  people  the  respect 
of  the  Iroquois  and  their  equality  with  the  proudest  of 
the  red  men.  The  Easton  council  lasted  nineteen 
days,  and  was  productive  of  harmony  both  between 
the  Indians  and  the  whites,  and  among  the  varied 
tribes  themselves.  The  one  who  contributed  most  to 
this  gratifying  success  was  not  Johnson,  but  the  honest 
German  and  Moravian,  Christian  Post,  who  from  his 
home  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  had  made  a  journey 
and  mission  of  peace,  alone,  among  the  tribes  in  the 
Ohio  Valley. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  173 

When  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst  reached  America  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  British  forces,  he  came  at 
once,  with  his  four  regiments  at  Albany,  to  reinforce 
Abercrombie.  He  found  at  Lake  George,  by  the 
end  of  May,  twelve  thousand  New  York  and  New 
England  militia.  Johnson  at  once  urged  upon  him 
the  importance  of  capturing  Niagara,  the  port  between 
the  two  great  lakes.  Amherst  agreed  to  the  proposal, 
and  warmly  seconded  it.  In  place  of  the  stockade 
which  the  French  from  the  time  of  La  Salle  had  main 
tained,  there  was  now  a  formidable  fort.  To  Sir  Wil 
liam  Prideaux  was  assigned  the  work  of  reducing  this 
Western  stronghold ;  and  Johnson,  in  order  to  assist 
him,  called  a  council  at  Canajoharie  to  enlist  the  Mo 
hawks,  Senecas,  and  other  Indians  in  the  expedition. 
After  the  usual  eloquence  and  expenditure  of  war- 
belts  of  wampum,  Johnson  led  into  the  field  seven 
hundred  warriors,  whose  painted  faces  showed  they 
were  on  the  war-path.  The  Svvegatchie  braves  also 
swelled  this  following,  so  that  on  arriving  at  Niagara 
he  wrote  to  William  Pitt,  Oct.  24,  1760,  that  his  In 
dian  force  numbered  nine  hundred  and  forty-three 
men. 

By  the  7th  of  July  Prideaux  with  thirty-two  hundred 
men,  including  Johnson's  Indians,  began  siege  opera 
tions.  On  the  twelfth  day  he  was  killed  in  the 
trenches  by  the  bursting  of  a  shell  from  a  coehorn 
mortar.  This  left  the  command  to  Johnson,  who  re 
newed  operations  with  greater  vigour,  and  by  the  22d 
breached  the  wall  sufficiently  for  assault. 

While  active  in  the  trenches  with  hot  shot,  bombs, 


174  *S7ff    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

and  canister,  Johnson  did  not  forget  to  keep  out  his 
scouts  and  rangers.  From  them  he  learned  that  the 
French  officer  D'Aubrey  was  advancing  to  the  relief 
of  the  garrison  with  twelve  hundred  men  whom  he 
had  gathered  from  all  the  four  French  posts  on  the 
lakes.  Leaving  a  force  to  continue  the  bombard 
ment,  Johnson  marched  out  with  infantry  and  gren 
adiers,  having  the  Indians  on  his  flanks,  and  attacked 
the  advancing  French  with  vigour.  In  this  battle  the 
Indians  fought  like  genuine  soldiers,  and  threw  the 
French  into  disorder.  Seeing  this,  the  charge  of  the 
regulars  and  militia  was  made  with  such  force  and  fury 
that  in  less  than  an  hour  the  fight  was  over,  and  a 
splendid  victory  for  the  English  was  the  result. 

Returning  to  camp  and  trench,  Johnson  sent  Major 
Harvey  to  Captain  Pouchot,  the  French  commander, 
to  tell  of  the  defeat  of  D'Aubrey,  and  to  advise  capitu 
lation,  especially  while  it  was  possible  to  restrain  the 
Indians.  Pouchot  yielded  ;  and  the  surrender  of  the 
wThole  force  of  over  six  hundred  took  place  the  next 
morning.  Johnson  wisely  had  ready  an  escort  for 
the  French  prisoners,  and  not  one  of  them  lost  his 
scalp  or  was  rudely  treated  by  the  Iroquois.  While 
the  women  and  children  were  sent  to  Montreal,  the 
men  were  marched  by  way  of  Oswego  to  New  York, 
to  fill  English  prisons.  The  manner  in  which  John 
son  restrained  the  savages  was  in  marked  contrast 
to  the  butcheries  allowed,  or  only  with  great  difficulty 
prevented,  by  the  French  under  similar  circumstances. 

Johnson's  victory  at  Niagara  broke  the  chain  of 
French  forts  along  the  great  valleys  and  water-ways 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  175 

from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  delta  of 
the  Mississippi.  One  after  another  the  French  de 
serted  the  other  forts,  except  Detroit;  and  General 
Stanwix  at.  once  occupied  them  or  their  ruins.  Leav 
ing  Colonel  Farquar  at  Niagara  with  a  garrison  of 
seven  hundred  men,  Johnson  came  to  Oswego,  there 
meeting  General  Gage,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
succeed  Prideaux.  Gage,  perhaps  irritated  that  the 
provincial  fur-trader  or  "  Heaven-born  general  "  had, 
instead  of  himself,  won  the  most  brilliant  of  victories, 
refused  to  allow  Johnson  to  advance  and  destroy  the 
French  forts  at  La  Galette  and  Oswegatchie,  or  Og- 
densburg.  Finding  that  Gage,  despite  his  advice  and 
that  of  Amherst,  meant  to  do  nothing  of  importance 
until  the  next  year,  Johnson,  after  meeting  the  chief 
men  of  the  Ottawa  and  Mississagey  Indian  tribes,  re 
turned  home.  He  was  now  the  most  popular  man  in 
the  province  ;  while  his  name  in  England  was  joined 
with  that  of  his  fellow- tradesman,  Clive,  as  a  "  Heaven- 
born  general." 

At  his  home  Johnson  learned  that  the  French  had 
at  last  abandoned  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  but 
by  concentrating  at  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  and  fortifying  their  position,  blocked  the  British 
advance  to  Montreal.  Amherst  was  therefore  obliged 
to  rest  for  the  winter ;  having  first  rebuilt  the  great 
fortresses,  constructed  Fort  George  near  the  site  of 
old  Fort  William  Henry,  and  cut  a  road  from  the  New 
York  lakes  into  the  heart  of  New  England.  Critics 
of  the  over-cautious  Amherst  say  he  should  have 
pushed  on  and  helped  Wolfe  to  conquer  Quebec  ear- 


1 76  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

lier.  However,  after  so  many  mistakes  and  disasters 
arising  from  rashness,  such  a  man  as  Amherst  was, 
perhaps,  necessary.  Wolfe,  however,  succeeded,  and 
on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  won  America  for  Teutonic 
civilization,  finding  the  path  of  glory  a  short  one  to 
the  grave. 

Montreal  still  remained  to  the  French ;  and  when, 
the  winter  over,  it  was  resolved  to  attack  this  last 
stronghold  from  three  points,  Arnherst  with  the  main 
army  assembled  at  Schenectady  was  to  proceed  by 
way  of  Oswego  down  the  "  ocean  river  "  of  Lake  On 
tario  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  General  Murray  was  to 
ascend  the  river  from  Quebec,  while  Colonel  Havi- 
land  was  to  advance  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain. 
The  colonial  militia  came  in  slowly ;  but  by  the  1 2th  of 
June  Amherst  left  Schenectady  with  twelve  thousand 
men;  while  Johnson,  arriving  at  Oswego  July  25, 
led  the  first  detachment  of  six  hundred  Iroquois 
fighting  men.  His  influence  was  however  so  great 
that  before  embarking  on  Lake  Ontario  he  had,  from 
the  tribes  formerly  neutral,  won  over  seven  hundred 
more  warriors.  He  also  sent  runners  with  wampum 
belts  to  nine  tribes  of  Indians  living  near  Montreal. 
These,  on  his  arrival  at  Fort  Levi,  at  once  declared 
their  neutrality.  It  was  thus  from  the  danger  of  eight 
hundred  hostile  warriors,  familiar  with  every  square 
rod  of  land  and  water,  that  Amherst's  army  was  saved. 
Passing  through  the  dangerous  Lachine  Rapids  with 
the  loss  of  but  forty-six  men  out  of  his  ten  thousand, 
he  reached  Montreal.  So  perfectly  was  the  plan  of 
campaign  carried  out,  that  Amherst  and  Murray  ap- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  177 

peared  on  opposite  sides  of  the  city  on  the  same  day. 
Haldiman  soon  appeared  from  the  south,  and  thus  the 
three  English  columns  became  practically  one  army 
within  twenty-four  hours.  The  city  surrendered  on 
the  8th  of  September,  1760,  and  the  French  power  in 
America  fell. 

So  fully  were  the  Indians  kept  in  hand  by  Johnson, 
that  no  atrocities  were  committed  by  them,  nor  the 
enemy's  people  or  country  in  any  way  harmed  by  their 
presence.  In  this  campaign,  in  which  the  talents  of 
Johnson  shone  with  conspicuous  brilliancy,  his  military 
career  culminated. 

The  only  French  post  of  importance  now  remain 
ing  was  Detroit.  To  carry  out  the  terms  of  the  ca 
pitulation,  and  to  plant  the  red  flag  with  the  double 
cross  in  the  remote  Western  posts,  Captain  Rogers,  the 
celebrated  ranger,  was  sent  westward  on  the  i2th  of 
September.  At  Presque  Isle,  about  a  month  later, 
Johnson's  deputy,  Croghan,  and  interpreter,  Montour, 
with  a  force  of  Iroquois  to  serve  as  scouts,  joined  him. 
Passing  safely  through  the  country  under  the  influence 
of  Pontiac,  having  an  interview  with  the  great  sachem 
on  the  site  of  Cleveland,  they  reached  Detroit,  Novem 
ber  2  9 .  There,  in  the  presence  of  hundreds  of  Indians, 
heretofore  the  allies  of  France,  the  garrison  marched 
out  and  laid  down  their  arms ;  the  great  chief,  Pontiac, 
being  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  memorable  sight. 


12 


178  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER  XI. 

DECLINE   OF   THE   INDIAN   AS   A   POLITICAL   FACTOR. 

WITH  the  change  of  dominion  in  North  America 
came  a  change  in  the  ruler  of  Great  Britain.  King 
George  II.  died  October,  1 760  ;  but  this  made  no 
alteration  in  the  relations  of  Sir  William  Johnson  to 
the  Crown.  On  the  contrary,  his  sphere  of  influence 
was  enlarged  by  his  having  charge  of  Indian  affairs  in 
Canada,  and  indeed  in  all  the  regions  north  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  in  what  is  now  called  British  Amer 
ica.  In  October,  1760,  a  new  commission  as  Super 
intendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  valid  during  the  king's 
pleasure,  was  issued  and  duly  received.  At  the  re 
quest  of  General  Amherst,  Johnson  now  made  a  jour 
ney  to  Detroit  to  regulate  matters,  and  settle  various 
questions  which  had  arisen  in  consequence  of  a  change 
of  masters. 

Now  that  the  contest  so  long,  equally  or  unequally, 
waged  by  the  two  forces  was  over,  and  but  one  peo 
ple  were  masters  of  the  situation,  there  was  no  more 
balance  of  power.  The  Indian  had  lost  his  place  at 
the  fulcrum.  As  a  political  factor,  he  was  suddenly 
reduced  to  an  ally  only,  with  the  strong  probability  of 
soon  becoming  first  a  vassal  and  then  a  cipher.  No 
son  of  the  forest  saw  this  more  clearly  than  Pontiac, 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  179 

who,  in  the  long  line  of  red  men  who  have  vainly 
fought  against  destiny,  from  King  Philip  to  Tecumseh 
and  from  Black  Hawk  to  Sitting  Bull,  stands  pre-emi 
nent  in  genius  and  power  as  well  as  in  the  tragedy  of 
failure. 

Johnson  made  the  western  journey  accompanied 
by  Capt.  John  Butler,  his  secretary  and  prospective 
son-in-law  Lieut.  Guy  Johnson,  and  a  body-guard  of 
Oneida  Indians.  A  long  line  of  boats  carried  the 
provisions  and  the  Indian  goods  intended  for  gifts. 
Johnson's  object  was  to  learn  everything  possible 
about  the  country  recently  held  under  French  domin 
ion,  and  about  the  Indians  living  in  it.  At  Fort  Stan- 
wix,  where  the  portage  required  several  days  to  be 
spent  in  unloading  and  reloading  on  account  of  land 
transit,  Colonel  Eyre  reached  him  with  a  letter  from 
General  Amherst  communicating  startling  news.  Ap 
parently  under  the  instigation  of  the  Senecas,  behind 
whom  was  Pontiac,  all  the  tribes  from  Nova  Scotia 
to  the  Illinois  were  being  plied  by  wampum-belts 
and  messages,  and  a  plot  to  murder  the  English  gar 
risons  was  being  hatched.  Owing  to  the  warnings 
given  to  the  garrisons  by  Captain  Campbell,  the  plot 
was,  for  the  time  at  least,  postponed.  Johnson  ac 
cordingly  called  a  council  at  Onondaga,  and  directly 
charged  the  Senecas  with  dissimulation.  He  gave 
them  to  understand  that  only  by  their  appearance  in 
friendly  council  at  Detroit  would  his  suspicions  be 
allayed  and  their  own  safety  secured. 

A  change  in  Johnson's  domestic  arrangements  made 
about  this  time  probably  still  further  increased  the 


l8o  SIK    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

prestige  which  he  had  so  long  enjoyed  among  the  red 
men.  His  wife  Catharine  died  in  1759,  and  for  a 
while  he  illustrated  in  his  own  life  the  injury  to  mor 
als  which  war,  especially  when  successful,  usually 
causes.  He  lived  with  various  mistresses,  as  tradition 
avers,  but  after  a  year  or  two  of  such  life  dismissed 
them  for  a  permanent  housekeeper,  —  Mary  Brant, 
the  sister  of  Joseph  Brant.  According  to  the  local 
traditions  of  the  Valley,  Johnson  first  met  the  pretty 
squaw,  when  about  sixteen  years  old,  at  a  militia 
muster.  In  jest,  she  asked  an  officer  to  let  her  ride 
behind  him.  He  assented,  returning  fun  for  fun.  To 
his  surprise  she  leaped  like  a  wild-cat  upon  the  space 
behind  the  saddle,  holding  on  tightly,  with  hair  fly 
ing  and  garments  flapping,  while  the  excited  horse 
dashed  over  the  parade-ground.  The  crowd  enjoyed 
the  sight ;  but  the  most  interested  spectator  was  John 
son,  who,  admiring  her  spirit,  resolved  to  make  her 
his  paramour. 

From  this  time  forth  Mollie  Brant,  the  handsome 
squaw,  was  Johnson's  companion.  Her  Indian  name 
was  Deyonwadonti,  which  means  "  many  opposed  to 
one."  She  was  a  granddaughter  of  one  of  the  Mo 
hawk  chiefs  who  had  visited  London  a  generation  or  two 
before,  when  "  Quider,"  or  Peter  Schuyler,  had  shown 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  some  of  his  American  allies. 
Mary  Brant  was  undoubtedly  a  woman  of  ability,  and 
with  her  Johnson  lived  happily.  She  presided  over 
Fort  Johnson,  and  later  at  Johnson  Hall.  She  became 
the  mother  of  a  large  brood  of  Johnson's  "natural  " 
children ;  and  as  "  the  brown  Lady  Johnson,"  white 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  181 

guests  and  visitors  always  treated  her  with  respect. 
With  this  new  link  to  bind  the  Iroquois  to  him,  the 
colonel's  influence  was  deepened  far  and  wide 
throughout  the  Indian  Confederacy.  To  strengthen 
his  ascendancy  over  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  John 
son  seemed  to  hesitate  at  nothing. 

The  dangerous  journey  to  Detroit  was  duly  made, 
and  after  being  waited  on  by  friendly  deputies  of  the 
Ottawa  Confederacy,  the  great  council  was  held  on 
the  i  pth  of  September.  Here,  before  the  representa 
tives  of  many  Indian  nations  from  the  four  points  of 
the  compass,  he  made  a  great  speech,  smoked  the 
pipe  of  peace  in  the  name  of  their  Great  Father  the 
King,  and  distributed  the  presents.  The  ceremonies 
wound  up  with  a  grand  dinner  and  ball  to  the  people 
of  Detroit.  The  return  was  safely  made,  and  home 
was  reached  October  30. 

During  the  winter  of  1761,  spent  by  Johnson  in 
New  York  in  pursuance  of  his  civil  duties,  Dr.  Cad- 
wallader  Colden,  the  incorrigible  Tory,  who  was  now 
lieutenant-governor,  distinguished  himself  in  further 
encroaching  upon  the  liberties  of  the  people,  by  try 
ing  to  make  the  judiciary  dependent  on  the  Crown. 
Instead  of  the  judges  being  appointed  to  hold  office 
during  good  behaviour,  Colden  wanted  them  to  serve 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  king.  In  other  words,  he  would, 
by  making  the  king's  will  the  term  of  office,  reduce 
the  bench  of  judges  to  be  the  instrument  of  the  royal 
prerogative.  A  lively  discussion  in  the  press  was  car 
ried  on  by  William  Livingston,  John  Scott,  and  Wil 
liam  Smith,  as  champions  of  the  people,  who  contended 


1 82  S7K    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

vigourously  for  the  principle  so  long  regnant  in  the 
Dutch,  and  now  prominent  in  the  American  republic, 
—  the  supremacy  of  the  judiciary.  Remembering  too 
well  how  servile  were  the  English  judges  who  held 
office  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Plantagenets,  the  Stu 
arts,  and  even  of  Cromwell,  the  people  of  New  York 
fought  stoutly  for  their  rights  and  the  republican  prin 
ciple.  When  Golden  desired  an  increase  of  salary 
for  the  Boston  lawyer  who  acted  as  chief-justice,  the 
Assembly  flatly  refused  to  grant  it.  The  salary  of  the 
obnoxious  Chief  Justice  Benjamin  Pratt  was  finally  paid 
out  of  the  royal  quit-rents  of  the  province.  Colden 
wrote  to  the  Board  of  Trade  prophesying. the  dire  re 
sults  of  the  doctrine  —  embodied  in  the  preamble  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  only  twenty- six 
years  later  —  that  all  authority  is  derived  from  the 
people.  This  is  the  doctrine  on  which  republics  are 
founded. 

Largely  due  to  Johnson's  influence  was  the  passing 
by  the  Assembly  of  an  act  for  the  better  survey  and 
allotment  of  lands  in  the  province.  At  the  English 
conquest  of  1664  the  excellent  Dutch  customs  of 
land  survey,  measurement,  registry,  and  allotment 
had  been  changed  for  the  tedious  forms  of  English 
common  law.  In  consequence,  there  was  much  con 
fusion  in  regard  to  claims  and  boundaries.  Large 
tracts  of  land  had  been  granted  by  the  British  Govern 
ment,  under  letters  patent,  in  which  the  exact  quan 
tity  of  land  given  away  was  not  stated,  nor  the  correct 
boundaries  named.  Further,  the  popular  methods  of 
measurement  in  vogue  —  such  as  by  counting  off  the 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  183 

steps  made  by  a  grown  man,  or  by  using  horse-reins 
or  bridles  in  lieu  of  a  surveyor's  chain  —  were  not 
calculated  to  insure  accuracy.  Not  only  were  con 
stant  trespassings  made,  both  with  honest  and  dishon 
est  intent,  upon  the  king's  domain, — that  is,  the  lands 
of  the  Indians,  —  but  there  were  frequent  troubles 
about  the  division  of  the  great  patents.  The  lawyers 
held  that  when  the  boundaries  were  uncertain,  the 
title  was  void.  The  only  way  to  settle  the  many  dis 
putes  was  to  have  all  the  patents  and  tracts  accurately 
surveyed  by  the  king's  surveyor-general,  and  done  in 
'so  scientific  a  manner  that  his  lines  should  be  final ; 
while  the  names  of  the  patentees,  the  size  of  the 
patent,  and  the  year  when  patented,  should  be  matter 
of  public  knowledge.  The  good  fruits  of  this  piece  of 
legislation  were  the  removal  of  much  of  the  irritation 
felt  by  the  Indians,  and  the  prevention  of  further 
encroachments  on  the  royal  lands. 

In  a  word,  close  approximation  was  made  to  the 
methods  followed  in  the  Republic  of  Holland  for  cen 
turies,  and  established  in  the  New  Netherlands  by  the 
first  settlers  from  the  Fatherland.  After  the  Revolu 
tion,  under  the  Surveyor-General  of  the  United  States, 
Simeon  De  Witt,  a  Hollander  by  descent,  and  familiar 
with  the  Dutch  methods,  this  system,  enlarged  and 
improved,  became  that  of  the  whole  nation  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  It  is  this  system,  lying  at  the 
basis  of  the  land  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  so 
won  the  encomium  of  Daniel  Webster  in  his  great 
addre-ss  at  Plymouth,  when  he  said  that  our  laws 
relating  to  land  had  made  the  American  Republic. 


184  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Some  time  afterward,  the  Mohawks,  who  had  for 
gotten  the  covenants  of  the  past,  thereby  showing  the 
worthlessness  of  mere  tradition  or  unsupported  asser 
tions  freshly  fabricated,  claimed  that  "  the  great  flat," 
or  large  tract  of  fertile  land  near  Schenectady,  had 
not  been  purchased  of  them,  but  had  been  lent  to 
the  Dutch  settlers  simply  as  pasture-land.  On  their 
making  complaint  to  Johnson,  the  documents  were 
called  for,  and  duly  produced  by  the  magistrates  of 
Schenectady.  The  deed  of  sale  to  Van  Curler  and 
his  fellow-settlers,  made  in  Fort  Orange,  July  27,  1661 
("  Actum  in  de  fortss  Orangie  den  27"  July  A.  1661  "), 
was  first  produced.  On  it  were  the  signatures  or 
marks  of  the  sachems  Cantuquo,  Aiadne,  and  Sona- 
reetsie,  with  the  totem -signs  of  the  Bear,  Tortoise,  and 
Wolf.  Other  papers  of  later  date  were  shown,  which 
set  more  definite  boundaries  to  the  patent  of  eighty 
thousand  acres.  Johnson  declared  the  Schenectady 
men  in  the  right.  The  Indians,  with  perfect  confi 
dence  in  Johnson  as  arbitrator,  went  to  their  bark 
houses  satisfied. 

From  this  time  forth  until  the  end  of  his  life,  a  large 
part  of  Johnson's  time  was  occupied  in  the  settlement 
of  land  disputes  between  whites  and  Indians.  Ceasing 
to  be  any  longer  a  political  factor  in  the  future  develop 
ment  of  the  continent,  the  Indian's  course  was  steadily 
downward.  Having  exhausted  the  benefit  of  his  service, 
the  British  and  colonial  governments  were  both  only 
too  ready  to  ignore  the  red  man's  real  or  supposed 
rights.  Steadily  the  frontiers  of  civilization  were 
pushed  forward  upon  the  broad  and  ancient  hunting- 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS,  185 

grounds  of  the  West.  In  the  old  and  thickly  settled 
domain  of  the  Iroquois,  it  was  now  scarcely  possible 
for  an  Indian  to  chase  deer  without  running  into  a 
fence  or  coming  unexpectedly  upon  a  clearing  where 
the  white  man  stood,  gun  in  hand,  to  warn  off  intru 
ders.  The  saw-mills  of  the  pale-face  spoiled  the  pri 
meval  forests,  choked  the  trout-streams  with  sawdust, 
and  killed  the  fish,  even  as  his  traps  and  ploughed  land 
drove  off  the  game.  Henceforth,  though  Johnson's 
business  with  the  Indians  was  greater  than  ever  be 
fore,  it  was  largely  matter  of  laborious  detail  and  set 
tled  routine.  Important  as  was  his  work  to  the  per 
fecting  of  the  results  attained  by  the  annulling  of 
French  pretensions,  it  would  be  monotonous  to  tell 
the  whole  story.  His  toil  was  necessary  to  the  uni 
formity  desirable  in  all  the  king's  dominions,  yet  it 
lacked  the  picturesque  element  dominant  in  his  early 
life,  and  need  not  here  be  set  forth.  We  may  take 
notice  only  of  the  most  important  of  his  labours  as 
examiner  of  claims,  as  advocate  for  the  right,  and  as 
judge  and  decider. 

After  inviting  the  sachems  of  the  Six  Nations  to 
assemble  at  his  house  to  hear  his  report  of  the  Detroit 
Council,  he  examined  into  the  famous  Kayaderosseras 
or  Queensborough  patent  of  several  hundred  thousand 
acres  granted  in  1 708.  This  patent  was  one  of  sev 
eral  which  the  Mohawks  claimed  were  fraudulently 
obtained.  Johnson  heard  both  sides  fully,  and  de 
cided  that  the  Indian  claim  was  the  correct  one,  and 
that  the  white  man  was  in  the  wrong.  The  result  was 
that  the  alleged  owner  gave  full  release.  In  the  mat- 


l86  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

ter  of  the  lands  on  the  Susquehanna,  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  claimed  by  Connecticut,  the  Iroquois  were  so  ex 
cited  that  they  sent  a  delegation  of  five  chiefs  to  Hart 
ford.  These  were  led  by  Guy  Johnson,  and  bore  a 
letter  from  Sir  William.  The  Connecticut  people  held 
tenaciously  to  their  claim,  and  were  about  to  settle,  to 
the  number  of  three  hundred  families,  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley.  In  the  speech  of  the  Onondaga  orator  at 
Hartford,  after  rehearsing  the  story  of  the  covenant 
with  Corlaer,  and  denouncing  men  like  Lydius  and 
Kloch,  who  fraudulently  obtained  the  Indians'  land, 
he  declared  the  Six  Nations  would  resist,  even  unto 
blood,  the  loss  of  their  Susquehanna  lands.  Governor 
Fitch  heartily  agreed  with  the  Iroquois,  and  so  ac 
tively  seconded  the  royal  order  that  the  proposed  set 
tlement  was,  at  least,  postponed. 

Johnson  predicted  in  a  letter  to  Amherst,  March 
30,  1763,  "the  dangerous  consequences  which  must 
inevitably  attend  the  settlement  of  these  people  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley."  The  Susquehanna  Company  per 
severed,  however,  and  at  the  council  held  at  Fort 
Stanwix  succeeded  in  getting  from  some  of  the  chiefs  — 
after  Johnson  had  been  warily  approached  with  bribes 
to  take  the  vice-presidency  of  the  company  —  a  title- 
deed  to  the  lands.  Into  this  beautiful  valley,  twenty- 
one  miles  long,  and  now  one  of  the  richest  and  most 
lovely  in  all  Pennsylvania,  forty  families  from  Connec 
ticut  settled  in  1769.  The  unsleeping  vengeance  of 
the  Senecas  did  not  find  its  opportunity  until  1778. 
Then,  led  by  Butler  and  his  Tories,  the  awful  massacre 
was  perpetrated  which  has  furnished  the  poet  Camp 
bell  with  his  mournful  theme. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  187 

During  the  great  conspiracy  and  war  of  Pontiac, 
Johnson  was  ceaselessly  active  in  measures  tending  to 
holding  the  loyalty  of  the  Indians.  The  Senecas,  al 
ways  the  most  wayward,  because  most  easily  influenced 
by  the  French,  and  more  susceptible  to  Indian  argu 
ments,  at  first  espoused  the  cause  of  Pontiac.  The 
baronet  had  no  sooner  heard  of  this  than  he  called  a 
council  of  all  the  Six  Nations  at  German  Flats,  and 
secured  a  tremendous  advantage  to  the  cause  of  civ 
ilization,  by  winning  them  over  to  neutrality.  He  sent 
Captain  Glaus  with  the  same  end  in  view  to  Caughna- 
waga,  or  the  Sault  St.  Louis.  4  At  this  place,  formerly 
called  La  Prairie,  whence  had  so  often  issued  in  the 
old  days,  from  1690  and  onward,  scalping-parties  on 
the  English  and  Dutch  settlements,  Glaus  met  the 
Caughnawaga,  St.  Francis,  and  other  tribes  of  In 
dians,  thus  cutting  off  another  possible  contingent  for 
Pontiac.  So  successful  was  Glaus,  that  these  Canadian 
tribes  not  only  sent  deputies  to  dissuade  the  Western 
braves,  but  also  warned  them  that  in  case  of  hostilities 
they  would  fight  for  the  king  with  their  English 
brethren. 

Not  knowing  what  roving  bands  of  Western  savages 
might  make  sudden  raids,  Johnson  ordered  out  the 
Valley  militia,  despatched  Indian  scouts  to  Crown 
Point,  built  a  stockade  of  palisades  around  Johnson 
Hall,  and  armed  his  own  tenants  and  the  people  of 
Johnstown.  The  two  stone  towers  or  block- houses 
flanking  the  Hall  were  mounted  with  cannon,  —  the 
weapons  most  objectionable  to  savages,  one  of  them 
being  a  piece  captured  at  Louisburg,  and  presented 


1 88  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

by  Admiral  Warren.  Seeing  that  the  Mohawk  Valley 
was  thus  so  guarded,  the  Western  braves,  though  har 
rying  the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  kept 
out  of  New  York.  Indeed  it  seems  not  too  much  to 
assert  that  the  influence  of  Johnson  over  the  Indians 
east  of  Detroit  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of 
Pontiac's  great  plot.  Angry  with  this  one  man  be 
cause  of  his  power  to  thwart  their  designs,  the  follow 
ers  of  Pontiac  intended  to  penetrate  to  Johnstown  and 
take  his  life.  Hearing  of  their  purpose,  the  Mohawks, 
coming  in  a  great  delegation  to  their  Great  Brother, 
offered  to  serve  as  his  body-guard. 

Pontiac's  attempt  to  recover  this  continent  to  bar 
barism  failed,  but  the  scattered  war  continued  for 
years.  Half  of  the  warriors  of  the  Seneca  castles  were 
out  on  the  war-path  with  the  Delawares  and  Shawa- 
nese  ;  and  against  these  Johnson  sent  out  many  a  war- 
party  from  Johnson  Hall,  selecting  his  men  from 
among  the  most  loyal  of  the  Iroquois.  These  three 
tribes  were  already  in  possession  of  a  large  number  of 
rifles  which  Swiss  hunters  of  the  chamois  and  German 
skilled  artisans  made  at  Lancaster  and  other  places  in 
Pennsylvania.  Being  thus  more  effectively  armed  and 
able  to  move  with  less  ammunition,  they  were  also  less 
dependent  on  the  white  man,  —  a  condition  of  things 
which  Johnson  viewed  with  alarm.  We  find  him 
writing  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  requesting  that  traffic  in 
such  deadly  weapons  should  be  prohibited.  Colonel 
Bouquet,  the  gallant  Swiss  officer,  avenged  Braddock's 
defeat  by  his  brilliant  victory  at  Bushy  Run ;  and  the 
Moravian  Indians  in  Pennsylvania  were  ruthlessly 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  189 

slaughtered  by  wild  beasts  in  white  skins  who  wore 
the  clothes  of  civilization.  All  this  was  part  of 
"Pontiac's  War." 

"  War  is  hell,"  as  Gen.  William  Tecumseh  Sher 
man  insisted  in  our  own  days ;  and  the  barbarities  in 
Johnson's  times  seemed  to  have  made  devils  of  both 
white  and  red  men.  We  find  Johnson  again  making 
himself  a  trader  in  scalps  by  offering  out  of  his  own 
private  pocket  fifty  dollars  apiece  for  the  heads  of  the 
Delaware  chieftains.  In  a  word,  he  continued  a  pol 
icy  becoming  obsolete  in  other  colonies.  He  thus 
encouraged  the  retention  by  the  British  Government, 
long  after  the  Revolution  had  broken  out,  of  a  custom 
worthy  of  Joshua  and  his  Hebrews  in  Canaan,  or  of 
the  pagan  Anglo-Saxons  in  Celtic  Britain,  but  not  of 
Christian  England  or  of  modern  America.  Was  he 
encouraged  to  do  this  by  his  squaw  wife,  Mollie 
Brant? 

Teedyuscung  was  no  more;  but  his  son,  Captain 
Bull,  was  an  active  warrior.  The  famous  Delaware 
chief  had  perished  in  the  flames  of  a  house  in  which 
he  was  lying  in  a  drunken  stupor.  An  incendiary  and 
hostile  savage  had  been  bribed  by  enemies  to  do  the 
vile  deed.  Captain  Bull,  while  on  his  way  to  surprise 
a  white  settlement,  was  himself  surprised,  July  26, 
1764,  by  the  interpreter,  Montour,  now  become  a 
captain,  who  led  a  band  of  two  hundred  Oneidas  and 
Tuscaroras.  The  Delawares  were  all  captured  and 
taken  by  way  of  Fort  Stanwix  to  Johnson  Hall.  Those 
who  were  not  adopted  into  the  Confederacy  found 
their  way  into  the  jails  of  New  York.  Joseph  Brant, 


190  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

leading  another  party  of  Iroquois  into  the  country  of 
the  head-waters  of  the  Susquehanna,  surprised  other 
Delaware  braves,  killed  their  chief,  and  burned  seven 
villages. 

The  result  of  these  successes  was  to  cow  and  terrify 
the  Senecas,  who  came  to  Johnson  Hall  and  made 
peace.  General  Gage  vigourously  pressed  operations 
against  the  hostile  tribes,  and  sent  Bradstreet  west 
ward.  As  a  reinforcement,  Johnson  persuaded  over 
five  hundred  of  the  Confederate  Iroquois  to  join  Brad- 
street.  He  then  went  himself  to  Niagara,  arriving  July 
8,  1764,  to  hold  a  grand  council  with  all  the  Indians 
favourable  to  the  English  cause,  from  Dakota  to  Hud 
son  Bay,  and  from  Maine  to  Kentucky.  Besides  a 
treaty  of  peace  with  the  Hurons,  the  earth-hunger  of 
the  pale-faces  was  temporarily  satisfied  by  a  cession  of 
land  along  the  lakes,  accompanied  with  the  promise 
of  protection  to  navigation.  The  Senecas  also  ceded, 
not  for  private  use,  but  to  the  Crown,  a  strip  of  land 
eight  miles  wide  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  bi 
sected  by  the  Niagara  River.  They  made  a  promise 
of  the  islands  in  the  river  to  Johnson  himself,  who 
immediately  transferred  them  to  the  British  Govern 
ment.  A  considerable  number  of  white  prisoners 
were  delivered  up.  In  this  policy  of  possibly  mis 
taken  kindness,  in  which  the  change  of  life  to  those 
who  had  forgotten  their  old  home  and  friends  and 
had  become  habituated  to  Indian  life,  was  like  a  res 
urrection,  there  were  many  incidents  like  those  upon 
which  Cooper  has  founded  his  romance  of  "  The  Wept 
of  the  Wish-ton-wish."  Johnson's  advertisement  to 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  191 

friends  of  the  captives  is  one  of  the  pathetic  curiosi 
ties  in  the  American  journalism  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

After  interviews  between  Johnson's  agent,  Croghan, 
and  Pontiac,  arrangements  were  made  for  the  amica 
ble  dwelling  together  of  the  two  races.  Johnson  had 
proposed  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  London  that  the 
territory  west  of  the  Ohio  River  should  be  forever 
reserved  to  the  Six  Nations  as  a  hunting-ground. 
Another  great  council  was  held  at  his  house  April 
27,  at  which  over  nine  hundred  Indians,  including 
one  hundred  and  twenty  Senecas,  the  Delaware  chiefs 
Squash-Cutter  and  Long-Coat,  were  present.  The 
various  conferences  lasted  nearly  a  month,  resulting  in 
a  fresh  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Western  Indians. 
They  covenanted  to  allow  the  boundary  to  be  made, 
protect  traders,  allow  the  passage  of  troops,  deliver  up 
murderers  to  the  nearest  garrison,  and  endeavour  to 
win  over  the  Illinois  tribes.  Later,  Croghan,  the 
agent  of  Johnson,  visited  Detroit,  on  the  way  collect 
ing  the  white  captives  delivered  up,  and  meeting  the 
penitent  Pontiac,  who  of  his  own  accord  made  over 
tures  of  peace  and  accompanied  Croghan.  On  the 
1 7th  of  August,  at  Detroit,  he  met  the  Ottawas,  Pot- 
tawatamies,  and  Chippewas,  and  in  one  of  several  con 
ferences  presented  Johnson's  road-belt  to  "  open  the 
path  of  the  English  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun." 
Ten  days  later,  on  the  27th,  with  Pontiac  and  the 
tribes  of  the  great  Ottawa  Confederacy,  the  war- 
hatchet  was  buried,  the  tree  of  peace  planted,  and  the 
calumet  of  peace  smoked.  Pontiac  even  gave  a  prom- 


192  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

ise  to  visit  Johnson  at  Oswego  to  ratify  the  peace  thus 
made.  The  road  being  cleared  for  the  passage  of  the 
troops,  Captain  Sterling,  with  one  hundred  Highland 
ers  from  Fort  Pitt,  received  possession,  October  10,  of 
Fort  Chartres,  and  the  French  flag  was  hauled  down. 

True  to  his  promise,  Pontiac  met  Johnson  at  Os 
wego  July  23.  Amid  every  possible  accessory  of 
impressive  display  and  ceremony,  the  sacramental 
wampum,  the  sacred  promises  of  peace  and  tokens  of 
friendship  were  exchanged.  Then  Pontiac  and  his 
braves  moved  out  in  their  canoes  over  Lake  Ontario 
to  the  west  and  to  obscurity.  Henceforth  the  way  of 
Teutonic  civilization  was  cleared,  and  the  march  to 
the  Pacific  began.  As  we  write  in  1891,  the  centre 
of  population  is  near  Chicago. 

In  October,  1768,  the  great  council  called  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  scientific  frontier  met  at  Fort 
Stanwix.  This  great  concourse,  not  only  of  Indians, 
but  of  the  governors  and  other  distinguished  men  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  makes  one  of  the  his 
torical  pictures  in  the  story  of  America  well  worth 
the  artist's  interpretation  on  canvas.  Johnson,  being 
at  this  time  heartily  interested  in  the  welfare  of  St. 
George's  Episcopal  Church,  built  next  to  the  British 
barracks  in  Schenectady,  in  which  he  was  a  frequent 
worshipper,  profited  by  the  presence  and  happy  mood 
of  so  many  prominent  men.  He  took  up  a  collec 
tion,  and  secured  sixty-one  pounds  and  ten  shillings 
for  the  little  stone  church  on  whose  spire  in  Ferry 
Street  still  veers  the  gilded  cock  of  St.  Nicholas,  the 
symbol  of  vigilance  and  of  the  resurrection. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  193 

Of  the  Six  Nations  and  other  tribes,  thirty-two 
hundred  individuals  were  present  to  witness  the  bar 
tering  away  of  their  birthright  for  such  pottage  as  the 
pale-faces  had  to  tempt  these  Esaus  of  the  wilderness. 
For  ten  thousand  pounds,  unlimited  rum,  and  after 
due  exchange  of  eloquence  and  wampum,  they  sold 
to  the  king  the  ground  now  occupied  by  Kentucky, 
Western  Virginia,  and  Western  Pennsylvania.  Fort 
Stanwix  was  dismantled.  The  Indians  moved  out  of 
Eastern  New  York,  and  the  next  year  Daniel  Boone 
led  that  great  emigration  of  white  men  from  the 
Southern  Atlantic  coast  which  resulted  in  the  win 
ning  of  the  West.  Boone's  was  a  movement  for  the 
annihilation  of  savagery,  the  extinction  of  Latin,  and 
the  supremacy  of  Teutonic  civilization  in  North  Amer 
ica,  parallel  to  that  rolling  westward  from  New  Eng 
land,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania. 

This  was  the  last  of  the  most  important  meetings 
and  negotiations  of  Johnson  with  the  men  who  claimed 
by  hereditary  right  to  occupy  the  continent.  Though 
afterward  full  of  toilsome  detail,  and  busy  in  con 
ference,  in  hearing  complaints,  and  securing  the  per 
formance  of  stipulations,  Johnson's  constructive  career 
as  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  virtually  closed 
at  Fort  Stanwix. 


194  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON' 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LIFE   AT   JOHNSON   HALL. 

THE  last  ten  years  of  Johnson's  life  were  among 
the  busiest  of  his  career.  War  matters  occupied  but 
a  portion  of  his  time.  His  greater  works  were  those 
of  peace,  his  chief  idea  being  the  development  in 
civilization  of  the  region  watered  by  the  Mohawk  and 
its  tributaries.  The  story  of  his  life  now  concerns 
itself  with  the  location  of  settlers;  the  education  of 
the  Indians;  the  building  of  schools,  churches,  and 
colleges;  the  improvement  of  land  and  live-stock; 
the  promotion  of  agriculture,  and  of  the  arts  and 
comforts  of  life.  In  a  word,  none  more  than  he 
carried  out  the  command  to  replenish  the  earth  and 
possess  it. 

Fortune  seemed  to  have  no  frowns  for  this  one 
of  the  chief  Makers  of  America.  Popular  with  his 
neighbours,  and  appreciated  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean,  his  rewards  were  many.  Besides  the  gift  of 
five  thousand  pounds  accompanying  the  title  of  baro 
net,  the  king,  in  June,  1769,  made  over  to  him  the 
famous  "  royal  grant "  of  sixty- six  thousand  acres  on 
the  north  side  of  the  river  between  the  East  and 
West  Canada  creeks,  the  present  town  of  Little  Falls 
being  in  the  southern  centre.  This  large  piece  of 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  195 

territory  had  been  given  him  by  the  Mohawks  in 
1 760,  as  a  token  of  their  gratitude  and  appreciation, 
Johnson  making  return  for  the  gift  in  a  sum  amount 
ing  to  over  twelve  thousand  dollars.  As  no  private 
person  could,  under  the  proclamation  of  1763,  obtain 
in  any  way  so  large  a  tract  of  land,  the  possession 
was  made  sure  by  being  given  under  the  royal  seal 
and  approbation  as  a  token  of  his  services. 

It  was,  however,  as  early  as  1763  that  Johnson 
chose  the  site  on  which  to  found  the  village  of  Johns 
town,  and  to  erect  Johnson  Hall,  —  as  a  letter  dated 
May  8,  1763,  to  Mr.  Samuel  Fuller,  of  Schenectady, 
the  architect  and  builder,  shows.  Like  his  former 
house  on  the  Mohawk,  this  edifice,  so  famed  in  ro 
mance  and  history,  still  stands,  though  outwardly 
somewhat  altered  in  appearance  by  the  addition  of 
modern  roofs,  bay-windows,  portico,  and  verandas. 
Only  one  of  the  two  square  towers  or  houses  which 
flanked  the  main  edifice  still  remains. 

The  writer  visited  the  Hall  in  July,  1890,  being 
pleasantly  received  by  the  present  owner  and  occu 
pant,  Mrs.  John  E.  Wells,  and  allowed  to  see  the  spa 
cious  rooms  which,  upstairs  and  down,  flanked  the 
superb,  wide  hall-ways  which  extend  from  front  to  rear 
doors.  The  missing  block-house  was  burned  by  ac 
cident  in  May,  1866.  Between  the  cellar  of  the  man 
sion  and  those  of  the  block-houses  an  underground 
passage  formerly  existed,  in  which  my  informant  often 
played,  until  within  a  few  years  ago.  A  circle  of 
Lombardy  poplars  planted  round  the  Hall,  once 
formed  a  striking  feature  of  the  landscape,  —  for 


196  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

these  prim  sentinels  made  a  strange  cordon  to  the 
Indians  and  those  accustomed  only  to  the  American 
forest  trees.  Only  four  survivors  on  the  east  front  of 
the  house  remain,  —  the  small  arc  of  a  grand  circle. 
Of  an  old  walnut-tree  planted  by  Johnson  himself, 
and  lovingly  preserved  as  an  historical  relic,  only  the 
vine-covered  and  flower-adorned  trunk  was  left,  in 
which  a  squirrel  was  nimbly  enjoying  itself.  The 
Hall  faces  the  east,  the  ground  sloping  to  the  left. 
The  mansion  has  been  in  the  possession  and  occu 
pancy  of  the  Wells  family  for  over  a  century. 

Passing  to  the  village,  a  half-mile  to  the  east,  I 
visited  the  church  built  by  Johnson.  Its  walls  are  of 
the  famous  graywacke  stone  which  underlies  the  Mo 
hawk  Valley,  and  which  is  so  widely  utilized  in  edi 
fices.  A  fire  in  1836  that  emptied  the  building  of 
nearly  everything,  and  left  only  the  walls,  was  the 
occasion  for  rebuilding.  When  this  was  done,  in 
1838,  the  site  was  so  changed  that  the  grave  of  John 
son  under  the  altar  was  left  outside  the  new  building, 
and  the  exact  site  of  it  lost  to  memory.  For  several 
years  it  may  be  said  that  the  very  spot  where  lay  the 
dust  of  this  Maker  of  America  was  forgotten.  In 
1862  the  rector,  Rev.  Charles  H.  Kellogg,  took 
measurements,  sunk  a  shaft,  and  discovered  the  brick 
vault.  Only  a  few  fragments  of  the  mahogany  coffin 
remained,  —  the  leaden  coffin  enclosing  it  having  been 
cut  up  during  the  Revolutionary  War  for  making  bul 
lets.  The  skull  and  a  few  bones  left,  together  filled 
but  a  quarter  of  a  bushel.  It  is  not  stated  whether 
the  bullet  which  remained  in  the  wound  in  Johnson's 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  197 

body  when  he  died  was  found ;  but  the  dated  gold 
ring  "was,  and  is  carefully  kept.  The  relics  of  once 
animated  earth  were  enclosed  in  a  hollowed  granite 
block,  and  re-deposited  with  solemn  ceremonies  by 
Bishop  Horatio  Potter,  a  few  feet  east  of  the  church, 
in  a  space  of  the  churchyard  which  has  no  other 
tombs  in  it.  The  unmarked  mound,  eight  feet  square 
and  six  inches  high,  barely  discoverable  by  a  passer 
by,  had  no  other  decoration  than  the  thin  grass  which 
manages  to  live  between  the  shade  of  two  buildings. 
The  action  of  St.  Patrick's  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons  which  Johnson  founded  —  his  son  being  the 
last  Provincial  Grand  Master  of  the  upper  district  of 
the  Province  of  New  York  —  is  still  awaited.  Either 
the  Masons,  or  others  who  honour  Johnson's  memory, 
should  set  up  a  worthy  memorial  of  the  great  man  who 
has  stamped  his  name  so  ineffaceably  on  the  history 
of  America. 

In  the  neat  village  itself  are  many  things  to  remind 
one  of  its  founder.  The  chief  hotel  is  named  after 
the  baronet.  A  number  of  autograph  letters  and  rel 
ics  are  in  possession  of  private  persons.  Documents 
in  the  handwriting  of  Johnson  are  in  the  Masonic 
Lodge  which  he  founded  in  the  parlour  of  Johnson 
Hall  in  1772.  The  gold  ring  found  in  1836  with  his 
dust,  and  inscribed  with  the  date  of  an  important 
event,  and  possibly  with  the  age  of  his  bride,  is  here. 
Nor  far  away,  the  cradle  of  black  walnut  in  which 
Mollie  Brant  rocked  her  children  is  preserved  as  a 
relic.  In  an  old  innkeeper's  book  the  first  entry  is 
that  of  the  great  man's  name,  who  ordered  the  first 


igB  SSfi    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

glass  of  grog.  Besides  the  evidences  of  ordinary 
human  life  and  infirmity,  one  cannot  go  very  far  in 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  or  in  those  of  the  lowlands  which 
hold  the  tributaries  to  the  river  flowing  through  it,  or 
in  the  collateral  ones  on  higher  levels,  but  the  fruits 
of  a  rich  and  busy  life  abound. 

Johnson,  though  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  was  willing  to  help  men  who  were  of  the 
Churches  of  Holland  or  of  Germany.  He  assisted 
all  Christians  to  have  houses  of  worship,  —  at  Fort 
Hunter,  Canajoharie,  Burnet's  Field,  especially;  but 
in  other  towns  and  villages  tokens  of  his  presence 
are  to  be  seen.  He  helped  financially  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  Germans,  and  the  Dutch  congregations, 
and  provided  the  Indians  with  missionaries  and 
churches.  With  Domine  Samuel  Kirkland,  who  la 
boured  among  the  Iroquois  for  over  forty  years,  and 
was  the  founder  of  the  town  of  Kirkland  and  of  Ham 
ilton  College,  Johnson  was  on  friendly  and  sympathetic 
terms.  He  greatly  honoured  the  young  man's  charac 
ter,  and  appreciated  his  labours ;  and  the  two  frequently 
corresponded.  During  one  winter  while  secluded  in 
Cherry  Valley,  Kirkland  was  saved  from  starvation  by 
the  Indians,  who  gathered  ginseng,  for  which  they 
bought  provisions  in  Albany.  The  root  having  been 
just  discovered  on  this  continent  by  a  French  Jesuit 
in  Vermont,  early  in  the  century,  already  formed  one 
of  the  staples  of  American  commerce  with  China. 

While  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  Johnson  first  "  discov 
ered  "  the  fertility  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  it  is  unques 
tionably  true  that  he  greatly  stimulated  advance  in 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  199 

agriculture.  Under  his  encouragement  many  of  the 
Mohawk  Indians  became  happy  and  prosperous  farm 
ers.  When  the  officers  and  men  under  the  leadership 
of  Sullivan,  the  New  Hampshire  general  of  Irish  de 
scent,  invaded  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations  in  1778, 
they  were  amazed  at  the  evidences  of  Indian  thrift, 
and  at  the  wide  areas  of  richly  cultivated  land. 

These  being  the  piping  times  of  peace,  Johnson 
built  a  handsome  summer-house  at  Broadalbin,  in 
Fulton  County,  where  he  entertained  lavishly.  Having 
a  healthy  interest  equal  to  that  of  the  Englishman  in 
out-door  sports,  he  also  erected  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  Sacandaga  Creek  a  lodge,  which  has  given  the 
place  the  name  it  still  holds,  —  the  Fish  House.  The 
building,  which  was  of  wood  painted  white,  with  the 
doors  and  mouldings  painted  green,  was  comfortably 
furnished.  It  was  frequently  occupied  in  summer, 
often  with  gay  company  from  New  York  or  Albany. 
An  orchard,  vegetable-garden,  well  of  spring  water, 
sheds  for  horses  and  cattle,  with  poultry  and  stock, 
enabled  the  lord  of  Johnson  Hall,  with  the  assistance 
of  his  favourite  negro  slaves  from  the  Manor,  to  dis 
pense  lavish  hospitality  to  his  friends  from  Albany, 
Schenectady,  the  Valley  settlements,  or  even  from 
Manhattan  Island.  Coming  himself  on  such  occa 
sions,  in  his  later  years,  in  a  coach  and  six,  it  was  no 
infrequent  sight  to  see  the  like  equipages  numerous  in 
the  grounds  of  the  Fish  House.  For  days  together, 
gayety  and  bustle  filled  the  grounds,  while  pleasure- 
parties  of  both  sexes  in  the  boats  tempted  to  their 
hooks  the  finny  spoil.  Excellent  gunning  was  also  pro- 


200  Sf£    WILLIAM  JOHNSON' 

vided  in  autumn  for  the  gentlemen  in  the  sunken  lands 
and  low-lying  coves  along  the  Sacandaga,  wild  ducks 
and  geese  being  the  chief  game.  Oftener,  however, 
instead  of  visiting  Europeans  or  fashionable  society 
nearer  home,  the  baronet  would  be  accompanied  by 
his  cultured  Irish  friend  and  family  physician,  Dr. 
Patrick  Daly,  and  by  his  favourite  musician,  Billy.  Nor 
is  it  likely  that  tradition  wrongs  him  in  frequently 
furnishing  him  with  other  room-mates,  since  chastity 
was  not  the  shining  virtue  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

Simms,  the  gossipy  annalist  of  Schoharie,  who 
seemed  incapable  of  writing  history  or  holding  him 
self  to  a  narrative  without  meandering  off  into  theology, 
politics,  or  preaching,  has  much  to  say  about  Sir  Wil 
liam  Johnson.  Though  gathering  a  valuable  harvest, 
his  sheaves  need  to  be  well  threshed  out  before  using. 
He  has  set  down  in  sober  print  much  tittle-tattle 
which  New  England  historians,  as  usual  when  writing 
about  New  York,  have  only  too  freely  copied. 

We  see  that  the  household  at  the  Hall  and  in  the 
quarters  was  almost  as  cosmopolitan  as  New  York 
itself.  Simms  tells  us  that  Johnson's  bouw-master,  or 
head  farmer,  was  an  Irishman  named  Flood.  He 
looked  after  the  ten  or  fifteen  negro  slaves  who  lived 
with  their  families  in  cabins  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Cayudutta  Creek,  opposite  the  Hall.  They  dressed 
much  like  Indians,  but  wore  coats.  His  private  sec 
retary,  after  Wraxall,  Croghan,  and  others,  was  a  Mr. 
Lafferty,  —  a  good  lawyer  withal,  who  attended  also  to 
Johnson's  legal  business.  The  family  physician,  named 
Daly,  was  a  companionable  and  cultivated  gentleman. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  2OI 

Billy,  a  dwarf  about  thirty  years  of  age,  was  a  master  of 
the  violin,  and  the  presiding  genius  of  the  numerous 
balls  given  in  the  Hall  when  "persons  of  quality" 
were  guests,  or  at  the  village  when  the  tenantry  or 
other  citizens  had  their  merry-makings.  The  gar 
dener  kept  the  grounds  "  as  neat  as  a  pin,"  and  from 
May  to  November  smiling  with  flowers.  The  butler, 
Frank,  was  an  active  young  German ;  and  the  chief 
body-guard  was  Pontiac,  a  sprightly,  well-disposed 
lad  of  part  Indian  blood.  He  was  named  after  the 
great  conspirator,  and  was  often  with  Johnson  when 
away  from  home.  Two  of  the  waiters,  —  probably 
brothers,  —  named  Bartholomew,  were  short,  thick-set 
white  men.  Across  the  road  from  the  Hall  were  the 
blacksmith  and  the  tailor,  who  did  little  work  outside 
of  the  "  royal  "  or  "  patroon's  "  household.  The  nu 
merous  progeny  and  employees  of  Johnson  furnished 
them  with  almost  constant  occupation.  One  of  the 
most  important  characters  was  the  schoolmaster,  Wall, 
an  Irishman  with  a  rich  brogue.  His  specialty  was 
the  teaching  of  manners  and  rudiments  of  English 
to  the  children  of  the  tenantry  and  Johnson's  half- 
breed  bastards.  It  may  be  well  imagined  that  the 
training  given  by  Wall  was  rather  to  fit  his  pupils  for 
proper  subordination  than  to  be  self-reliant  patriots. 
In  front  of  the  schoolhouse  stood  the  whipping-post 
and  the  stocks,  for  which  truant  boys,  drunken  louts, 
wife-beaters,  and  other  transgressors,  actual  and  poten 
tial,  were  supposed  to  have  due  respect. 

Holidays   and    out-door  merry-makings  were    fre 
quent.     The  many-sided  lord  of  the  manor  seemed 


202  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

most  in  his  natural  element  when  providing  or  partici 
pating  in  the  athletic  sports,  Irish  games  and  frolics 
with  which  he  amused  Indians  and  whites,  old  and 
young.  Himself  ever  jovial  and  fond  of  fun,  he  en 
tered  into  the  performances  with  an  enthusiasm  that 
was  magnetic.  The  greasy  pole  with  a  coin  or  other 
prize  on  the  top  was  set  up  for  the  nude  Indian  chil 
dren  to  attempt  to  climb.  The  pig  with  its  tail  like 
wise  anointed  was  set  free  to  be  caught  by  him  or 
her  who  could.  Tradition  tells  how,  in  one  case,  an 
old  Indian  squaw  beat  every  one  in  the  race,  and 
finally,  having  caught  up  a  handful  of  sand,  had  liter 
ally  the  grit  to  hold  on  and  win  the  race.  Sack,  hurdle, 
and  three-legged  races  were  also  favourite  amusements. 
Besides  all  this  out-door  activity  and  healthy  occu 
pation,  there  was  plenty  of  amusement  indoors.  The 
numerous  guests  who  came  from  all  quarters  and  at 
all  times  made  Johnson  Hall  more  like  a  grand  hotel 
than  the  private  house  of  a  gentleman.  From  April, 
after  the  ice  in  the  Mohawk  had  burst,  as  it  often  did, 
with  a  sound  like  cannon,  and  floated  out  to  the  Hud 
son  and  to  the  sea,  and  the  spring  floods  were  over, 
until  the  autumnal  splendours  of  crimson  and  gold 
filled  the  Valley,  the  house  rarely  lacked  guests.  In 
dian  chiefs  and  warriors  came  at  all  times ;  but  in 
summer  the  paint  and  feathers  of  forest  fashions  were 
replaced  by  those  from  beyond  sea.  The  rouge, 
powder,  patches,  wigs,  perukes,  silken  gowns  and 
stockings,  silver-buckled  shoes,  and  ruffled  cuffs  and 
shirt-fronts  from  London,  or  patterned  after  Pic 
cadilly  prints,  filled  the  Hall  with  brilliant  colour. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  203 

With  musical  instruments,  a  well-filled  library,  and  the 
last  new  novel  on  the  drawing-room  table,  the  guests 
could  easily  amuse  themselves  on  a  rainy  day  ;  while  in 
fair  weather  saunterings  over  the  grounds  of  their  host, 
or  drives  or  rides  in  the  beautiful  country  around,  made 
the  daylight  hours  fly  pleasantly.  Then,  in  full  dress 
for  the  evening  dinner,  the  night  soon  passed  in  feast 
ing,  drinking,  and  exchanging  news,  with  chat,  gossip, 
and  smoke  ;  and  more  than  one  of  the  hours  of  morn 
ing  arrived  before  the  concourse  broke  up. 

Such  a  course  of  life  was  kept  up  for  years,  until  the 
hospitality  of  Johnson  Hall  became  a  proverb,  and  its 
revelry,  we  must  add,  passed  into  a  byword.  Despite 
his  constant  out-door  life  and  otherwise  good  habits, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  such  luxurious  living 
long  persisted  in  explains  why  the  baronet  never  saw 
his  sixtieth  year. 

In  practical  farming  and  in  horticulture  Johnson  took 
great  delight,  and  in  his  intervals  of  leisure  did  much, 
both  by  personal  example  and  by  neighbourly  confer 
ence  with  the  farmers,  to  improve  crops  and  live-stock. 
He  was  a  regular  correspondent  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Arts  in  England,  and  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  in  Philadelphia.  Agriculture 
was  one  of  the  themes  most  often  discussed  in  his 
letters.  He  sent  frequently  to  London  for  choice 
varieties  of  seeds,  and  delighted  to  see  how  they  fared 
in  our  climate  and  soil.  Of  horses  and  other  fine 
stock  he  was  very  fond,  and  to  him  is  due  the  credit 
of  the  introduction  of  sheep  and  blooded  stallions. 
He  also  credits  himself  with  first  raising  hay,  and  thus 


204  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

stimulating  the  development  of  improved  breeds  of 
cattle.  While  thus  on  his  table  lay  the  last  reviews 
and  best  periodical  literature  of  London  ;  while  in  his 
library  the  European  scholars,  professors  from  Harvard 
and  Yale,  and  English  ladies  from  London  drawing- 
rooms,  would  all  find  books  to  their  taste,  the  pursuit 
of  science  indoors  and  out  was  carried  on  with  ardour 
by  the  lord  of  the  manor  himself. 

In  attendance  upon  the  county  fair  at  Fonda  dur 
ing  the  summer  of  1890,  the  writer  was  struck  with 
the  variety  and  excellence  of  the  live-stock,  as  well  as 
with  the  richness  of  the  agricultural  products  of  Mont 
gomery  County.  This  county,  with  Saratoga  and  others 
adjoining,  has  had  marked  influence  upon  the  develop 
ment  of  the  region  westward.  Not  a  few  of  the  fine 
specimens  of  horses  and  cattle  are  descendants  of  the 
denizens  of  the  Johnson  farm  of  pre-Revolutionary  days. 
Certainly  Johnson  was  one  of  the  benefactors  of  the 
race,  who  made  many  blades  of  grass  grow  where  none 
grew  before.  Not  the  least  of  his  good  offices  was  in 
prevailing  upon  the  British  Government  to  relax  the 
illiberal  laws  which  prevented  the  agricultural  develop 
ment  of  the  Mohawk  Valley.  Much  of  England's 
troubles  with  her  colonies  arose  from  her  determina 
tion  to  keep  the  American  part  of  her  domain  as  a 
close  market  for  exclusively  British  products,  and  thus 
to  compel  the  Americans  to  buy  only  those  goods 
which  were  manufactured  in  England  or  came  from 
British  ports.  In  thus  attempting  to  nip  in  the  bud 
all  flowering  of  the  native  genius  of  the  people,  she 
succeeded  in  hampering,  but  not  wholly  repressing, 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  205 

American  manufactures.  Johnson,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  able  to  get  removed  the  restriction  against  raising 
wool.  Peter  Hasenclever,  a  Palatine  German,  who 
owned  land  next  to  Johnson's  royal  patent,  started  an 
iron  foundry,  and  though  himself  failing  after  long  and 
earnest  efforts,  unable  to  surmount  the  numberless 
difficulties,  gave  a  great  stimulus  to  the  development 
of  the  iron  industry  in  Northern  and  Eastern  New 
York.  Philip  Schuyler  set  up  a  flourishing  flax-mill. 

Johnson  lived  to  see  the  fearful  results  of  the  deter 
mination  of  the  lucre-loving  British  lords  to  force  their 
products  upon  Americans  at  all  hazards.  He  regretted 
these  violations  not  only  of  human  rights  in  general, 
but  of  Englishmen's  rights  in  particular  j  though  ^not 
so  outspoken  as  he  might  have  been.  The  Americans, 
while  willing  to  be  customers  to  the  greatest  nation  of 
shopkeepers,  were  resolved  not  to  be  considered  as 
buyers,  and  victims  of  monopoly  only.  Johnson  for 
tunately  died  before  the  covetousness,  avarice,  and 
arbitrary  thick-headedness  of  Great  Britain,  which  had 
forced  the  slave-trade,  hampered  commerce,  and 
paralyzed  foreign  commerce  and  home  manufactures, 
compelled  the  colonists  to  rebuke  her  pretensions  by 
an  appeal  to  arms. 


20 6  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
JOHNSON'S  FAMILY;  LAST  DAYS;  EUTHANASIA. 

WHILE  the  brown  Lady  Johnson,  Mollie  Brant,  pre 
sided  over  the  mansion,  and  her  dusky  brood  attended 
the  manor  school,  the  daughters  of  Johnson  and  of 
Catharine  Wisenberg  were  trained  under  the  care  of  a 
governess  who  made  them  familiar  with  the  social 
graces  of  London  and  the  polite  accomplishments  and 
standard  literature  of  England.  Mary  Brant,  though 
not  only  an  Indian,  but  a  Mohawk  Indian  in  spirit, 
was  to  her  dying  day,  in  the  old  English  and  Hebrew 
sense  of  the  word,  a  virtuous  woman.  She  had  the 
virile  qualities  of  worth,  excellence,  and  abilities,  and 
not  only  managed  her  household  to  the  satisfaction  of 
her  lord,  but  kept  herself  well  informed  and  interested 
in  the  two  worlds  in  which  lived  the  people  of  the 
Long  House  and  those  of  Christendom.  More  than 
one  English  lady  visiting  at  the  Hall  was  surprised  to 
find  this  Iroquois  woman  so  cultivated,  refined,  and 
alert,  not  only  with  womanly  intuition,  but  equipped 
with  information  as  to  the  life  and  thoughts  in  which 
they  and  their  husbands  moved. 

Johnson  was  happy  in  the  careers  of  his  children 
born  in  wedlock,  so  far  as  he  lived  to  witness  them. 
His  first-born  child,  John,  was  the  especial  pride  of 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  207 

his  father,  though  he  never  won  the  regard  of  his 
neighbours.  He  had  the  misfortune  to  be  the  son  of 
a  great  man,  and  to  be  constantly  compared  with  his 
father.  He  was  educated  under  Domine  Vrooman 
and  other  clergymen  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  and  An 
glican  Churches.  He  often  accompanied  his  father 
on  his  journeys,  notably  the  adventurous  one  to  De 
troit  in  1761.  Later  he  was  placed  in  command  of 
three  hundred  Iroquois ;  but  these  unfortunately  de 
serted  their  commander,  who  had  not  the  power,  like 
his  father,  to  sweeten  the  rigours  of  discipline  by  mag 
netic  personality  and  system.  He  had  considerable 
experience  in  the  field  with  the  militia,  but  never  won 
much  personal  popularity.  Visiting  England  to  com 
plete  his  education,  he  was  presented  at  court,  and 
knighted  at  St.  James's,  Nov.  22,  1765.  He  later 
became  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  being  pitted 
against  Colonel  Schuyler,  who  rightly  or  wrongly  — 
more  probably  the  latter  —  imagined  the  father  to  be 
prodding  the  son  or  using  him  for  a  cat's-paw. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1773,  Sir  John  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Watts,  of  New  York  City,  the  wedding 
being  at  the  bride's  house.  The  bridal  tour  was  a 
trip  up  the  Hudson  River  when  Nature  was  dressed  in 
her  glorious  summer  robes.  A  stay  at  Albany  marked 
by  brilliant  social  attentions,  and  the  ride  up  the 
loveliest  of  valleys,  completed  the  journey.  Johnson 
Hall  was  then  embosomed  in  a  wealth  of  foliage  and 
flowers,  and  bright  with  the  pageantry  which  manor 
life  could  on  special  occasions  display.  Sir  John,  on 
the  death  of  his  father,  succeeded  to  an  estate  which, 


208  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  founder  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  was  probably  the  largest  ever  held  by  a  private 
individual  in  America.  At  the  request  of  the  Indians 
to  Johnson,  and  of  the  latter  to  the  king,  Col.  Guy 
Johnson  was  made  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs, 
assisted  by  Colonel  Claus  ;  but  Sir  John  succeeded  to 
the  office  of  major-general  of  the  militia.  To  tell  the 
story  of  his  Tory  career  in  the  Revolution  is  no  part 
of  our  plan.  "  The  Life  and  Misfortunes  and  Military 
Career  of  Brig.-Gen.  Sir  John  Johnson,  Baronet,"  has 
been  ably  written  by  Gen.  J.  Watts  De  Peyster.  In 
this  book  a  list  of  Sir  William  Johnson's  descendants 
are  given. 

Johnson  usually  called  Anne,  his  first  daughter, 
Nancy,  and  often  wrote  to  her  while  away  from  home. 
A  son  of  one  of  the  Palatine  Germans,  Daniel  Claus, 
a  noted  Indian  fighter,  captain  of  militia,  and  a  man 
of  considerable  culture  in  German,  English,  and  the 
Iroquois  languages,  and  withal  a  favourite  of  Sir  Wil 
liam,  fell  in  love  with  Miss  Nancy,  and  married  her  in 
July,  1762.  The  nuptials  were  celebrated  at  John 
son  Hall  with  great  rejoicing.  Claus  assisted  his 
father-in-law  and  Joseph  Brant  in  translating  and  pre 
paring  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  the  Mohawk 
language.  In  thus  following  up  and  completing  the 
work  of  Domine  Barnhardus  Freeman,  of  Schenectady, 
a  manual  of  devotion  was  prepared  for  the  Mohawks 
which  was  in  use  until  near  the  second  half  of  the 
present  century.  As  colonel  of  militia,  Claus  saw  long 
and  varied  service  in  New  York,  Canada,  and  the 
West. 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  209 

Mary  Johnson,  the  baronet's  second  daughter,  mar 
ried  in  March,  1763,  her  cousin  Guy,  a  nephew  of 
Sir  William  and  his  private  secretary.  Guy  Johnson 
was  later  an  active  member  of  the  Assembly  from 
Tryon  County,  and  was  always  a  helpful  assistant  of 
his  uncle.  Their  daughter  Mary  became  wife  of  Sir 
Colin  Campbell,  and  mother  of  Gen.  Sir  Guy  Camp 
bell.  Guy  Johnson's  career  in  devastating  the  val 
leys  of  New  York  during  the  Revolution  is  too  well 
known  to  need  repetition  here. 

The  absorption  of  Johnson's  mind  in  his  multifa 
rious  labours  and  in  the  interests  of  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  scarcely  gave  him  time  to  study  care 
fully  the  great  political  movements  leading  to  the 
Revolution.  The  time  had  now  come  when  the  con 
tinued  folly  of  the  king  and  Parliament  acting  as  irri 
tant  and  stimulant  upon  people  in  whom  a  love  of 
freedom  was  inborn,  was  to  result  in  independence. 
The  long  training  in  the  border  wars  had  educated  a 
generation  of  soldiers  who  did  not  fear  to  meet  either 
the  mercenaries  or  the  regulars  of  Great  Britain, 
while  also  well  able  to  profit  by  the  mistakes  of  the 
king's  agents,  and  to  organize  government  for  them 
selves.  On  the  civil  side,  the  people  of  New  Eng 
land,  led  and  trained  by  Congregational  clergymen 
rather  than  by  lawyers,  were  educated  into  the  idea 
of  resistance  to  the  king  and  Parliament  on  grounds 
of  abstract  right.  In  the  Middle  and  Southern  States 
regularly  educated  publicists  and  lawyers  trained  in 
England  were  much  more  numerous.  The  continued 
invasion  by  the  king  of  their  rights  as  Englishmen 
14 


210  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

was  their  theme  ,•  and  resistance  was  made,  and  final 
victory  expected,  not  by  revolution,  but  through  the 
right  application  of  the  law  and  tradition  which  had 
been  so  often  violated.  In  many  of  the  colonies  a 
well-grounded  fear  lest  a  politically  organized  church 
should  be  forced  upon  them,  as  well  as  hatred  of  Eng 
land's  avaricious  policy  of  holding  the  colonies  as  a 
close  market,  had  also  their  influence  in  bringing  about 
separation. 

Johnson,  too  busily  occupied  to  follow  every  step 
of  the  movements,  yet  sympathized  with  the  people, 
even  while  sincerely  loyal  to  the  Crown.  As  member 
of  the  Council  in  New  York  City,  he  witnessed  not 
only  the  frequent  turbulent  expressions  of  the  popu 
lace,  but  also  saw  from  the  firm  temper  of  the  As 
sembly  signs  of  the  coming  danger.  While  John 
Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Samuel  Adams,  of 
Massachusetts,  were  discussing  the  political  situation 
and  the  principles  at  stake,  the  people  of  New  York 
showed  by  their  acts  their  constant  determination  to 
resist  all  invasion  of  their  rights  by  either  the  king  or 
his  agent.  The  governor,  Sir  Henry  Moore,  who  dis 
solved  the  Assembly  in  1769,  found  out  quickly  that 
the  members  were  re-elected  by  overwhelming  major 
ities.  His  sudden  death  called  to  the  office  of  acting 
governor,  for  the  third  time,  Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden. 

In  the  following  March  the  political  sky,  already 
full  of  the  portents  of  a  coming  storm,  gathered  a 
deeper  blackness  when  the  fact  became  known  that 
the  House  of  Commons  in  London  had  refused  to  re 
ceive  the  representative  of  the  New  York  Assembly. 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  211 

In  spite  of  prophetic  warnings  and  wise  cautions  in 
Parliament,  the  determination  to  make  merchandise 
of  the  colonies  stupefied  and  debauched  the  con 
science  of  the  average  lord  and  commoner  of  com 
mercial  England,  as  the  opium  question  in  China 
stupefies  and  debauches  it  yet.  The  government  was 
as  much  determined  on  a  war  with  the  American  col 
onies,  and  for  much  the  same  purpose,  as  so  many  of 
Great  Britain's  later  wars  have  been  waged,  —  for  the 
sake  of  maintaining  trade.  Of  the  twenty-five  or 
thirty  wars,  even  during  Victoria's  reign,  the  majority 
have  been  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  trade  and  mak 
ing  money.  In  a  word,  the  war  of  King  George  and 
his  Parliament  in  1775  against  the  colonies  was  a 
shopkeeper's  war  for  a  market.  "  British  interests  " 
then,  as  now,  meant  trade  and  profits.  Johnson  felt 
the  injustice  of  the  British  Government's  acts  when  he 
wrote  in  1769:  "Whatever  reason  or  justice  there 
may  be  in  the  late  steps,  there  is  a  probability  of  their 
being  carried  farther  than  a  good  man  can  wish." 
Nevertheless,  Sir  William  was  wisely  non-committal 
on  the  burning  question. 

The  Sons  of  Liberty  in  New  York  became  active 
and  turbulent,  and  made  the  lives  of  ultra-loyalists, 
like  Golden,  a  burden.  The  royal  troops  had  been 
by  his  orders  summoned  to  New  York  City,  after  he 
had  been  driven  to  take  refuge  in  the  fort  on  the  out 
break  of  violence  when  the  stamps  arrived  from  Eng 
land.  These  soldiers  were  now  the  targets  of  scorn, 
especially  after  the  Assembly  had  refused  indemnity 
to  Golden,  who  kept  on  recommending  them  to  sup- 


212  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

plicate  the  paternal  tenderness  of  their  gracious  sov 
ereign  George.  After  concurring  in  the  spirited 
resolutions  of  the  Legislatures  of  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina,  the  Assembly  had  also  defeated  a  cunning 
scheme  to  win  from  them  a  vote  of  money  to  support 
the  king's  military  forces. 

The  hatred  between  the  soldiers  and  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  burst  into  flame  at  the  battle  of  Golden 
Hill,  Jan.  18,  1770,  in  New  York  City,  when  the  first 
blood  of  the  American  Revolution  was  spilled.  The 
Sons  of  Liberty  had  erected  an  emblem  of  their  free 
dom  and  hereditary  rights.  The  liberty-pole,  and 
their  meetings  with  speeches  under  it,  were  survivals 
of  the  old  custom  of  their  Teutonic  ancestors,  who 
met  in  the  folk  moot  under  the  chosen  oak-trees  in  the 
forests  of  Germany  before  Christendom  began.  The 
liberty-pole  with  its  spars  was  obnoxious  to  the  red 
coats,  who  with  saw  and  gunpowder  tried  to  destroy  it. 
The  citizens  resisted,  but  the  unarmed  and  unorgan 
ized  mob  broke  before  the  charge  of  armed  men  with 
bayonets.  Having  finally  succeeded  in  sawing  the 
pole  into  kindling-wood,  the  military  piled  the  frag 
ments  before  the  doors  of  the  tavern  where  the  Sons 
of  Liberty  met. 

The  citizens  were  now  thoroughly  roused,  and  on 
the  1 8th  a  riot  broke  out,  in  which  clubs  and  cutlasses 
were  used,  and  in  which  the  soldiers  were  worsted ; 
though  several  citizens  were  wounded,  and  one  of 
them,  a  sailor,  died.  When  at  Golden  Hill,  or  John 
Street,  between  Cliff  Street  and  Burling  Slip,  the  riot 
was  stopped  by  the  arrival  of  British  officers,  who 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  213 

ordered  their  men  back  to  camp.  Conspicuous  in 
the  affrays  of  next  day  were  the  sailors,  who  in  re 
venge  for  the  death  of  their  comrade  clubbed  the 
soldiers  and  drove  them  out  of  the  streets  into  their 
barracks.  On  the  5th  of  February  a  new  liberty-pole 
was  erected  on  ground  purchased  for  the  purpose, 
and  it  remained  until  1776. 

The  Sons  of  Liberty  succeeded  in  carrying  out  the 
non-importation  act  so  vigourously  that  the  market 
became  empty  of  goods  used  as  presents  to  the  In 
dians.  Johnson  was  in  danger  of  becoming  seriously 
embarrassed.  The  Cherokees,  who  in  January,  1770, 
intended  to  go  to  war  with  the  tribes  in  the  West  and 
Southwest,  wanted  the  Six  Nations  to  join  them. 
These  at  once  resolved  first  to  ask  the  advice  of 
Johnson,  who  appointed  a  council  at  German  Flats, 
hoping  to  win  the  Cherokees  away  from  their  pur 
pose.  Johnson  was  obliged  to  write  to  the  chairman 
of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  to  get  permission  to  receive  or 
purchase  a  package  invoiced  to  him  which  they  held 
in  bond,  promising  to  use  the  goods  only  for  the 
Indians.  The  request  was  cheerfully  granted,  and  the 
goods  delivered. 

In  company  with  Dr.  Shuckburgh,  who  com 
posed  or  introduced  the  tune  of  "  Yankee  Doodle," 
Johnson  met  the  Indians,  half  famished  as  they  were 
on  account  of  the  failure  of  crops  through  caterpillars. 
The  result  of  the  council  was  that  the  Cherokees  gave 
up  their  proposed  war,  and  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix 
was  ratified  in  detail. 

Perhaps  it  was  from  this  incident  that  the   New 


214  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

Yorkers  prepared  to  dress  themselves  as  Mohawk  In 
dians,  and  tumble  the  tea  into  the  waters  of  the  East 
River,  when  it  should  come.  On  the  gth  of  July,  hear 
ing  that  all  taxes,  except  upon  tea,  had  been  removed, 
the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  agreed  to  receive  all 
imports  except  tea.  Johnson's  storehouses  were  now 
well  stocked  with  imported  Indian  goods.  Indian 
trade,  which  had  come  almost  to  a  standstill,  was  re 
sumed,  much  to  the  joy  of  all  the  Six  Nations.  The 
red  men  could  not  comprehend  the  white  man's  poli 
tics,  or  realize  that  the  love  of  money  was  the  root  of 
the  evil  of  war  also.  They  could  not  understand  that 
titles  of  nobility,  commissions  in  the  army,  stars,  gar 
ters,  decorations,  and  things  most  noble  were  peddled 
by  government  and  purchased  by  money. 

So  rebellious  a  spirit  as  that  manifested  in  New 
York  must  be  rebuked,  and  so  the  king  and  his  coun 
sellors  chose  as  the  proper  man  to  curb  it,  the  infa 
mous  William  Tryon.  This  Irishman  had  been  an  army 
officer,  but  through  his  wife's  influence  obtained  the 
post  of  lieutenant-governor  of  North  Carolina  in 
1764;  becoming  governor  in  1765.  He  was  the  fit 
tool  of  the  kind  of  a  king  and  parliament  that  ruled 
England  at  this  time.  Living  while  at  Newbern, 
N.  C.,  in  amazing  luxury,  at  the  cost  of  the  oppres 
sively  taxed  colonists,  he  delighted  in  scorning  their 
remonstrances  and  in  crushing  out  their  liberties. 
Goaded  to  desperation,  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  after  five 
years  of  vain  petition  for  redress,  met  to  the  number 
of  nearly  two  thousand  on  the  banks  of  the  Alamance 
River.  Tryon  marched  out  from  his  "palace"  with 


AND    THE  SIX  NATIONS.  215 

an  army  of  one  thousand  regular  British  troops,  in 
fantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery,  to  suppress  them.  On 
the  1 5th  of  May,  1771,  the  Regulators,  or  Sons  of 
Liberty,  sent  Tryon  a  message  offering  to  lay  down 
their  arms  if  he  would  redress  their  grievances.  Tryon 
advanced  with  the  idea  of  scattering  the  patriots  be 
fore  the  reinforcements  coming  from  all  parts  of  the 
province  should  encourage  the  Regulators.  When 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  patriot  ranks,  his  officers 
read  the  riot  act.  It  was  met  by  shouts  of  defiance. 
Tryon  then  ordered  his  men  to  fire.  They  hesitated. 
Rising  in  his  stirrups,  Tryon  in  a  rage  cried  out, 
"  Fire —  on  them,  or  on  me,"  at  the  same  time  dis 
charging  his  pistol  and  felling  a  victim.  In  the  two 
hours'  musketry  battle  which  ensued,  the  ammunition 
of  the  poorly  armed  patriots  being  soon  exhausted,  the 
decisive  victory  of  Tryon  was  obtained  when  the  artil 
lery  was  ordered  up,  and  the  unequal  contest  decided 
by  rounds  of  grape  and  canister.  Twenty  of  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  were  left  dead  on  the  field,  the 
wounded  being  carried  off.  Of  Tryon's  men,  sixty 
were  killed  or  wounded. 

Although  practically  unknown  to  popular  American 
history,  this  was  the  first  battle  of  the  American  Revo 
lution.  For  a  few  weeks  Tryon  held  high  revel  of 
execution  and  devastation  in  North  Carolina,  and  was 
then,  in  the  height  of  his  glory,  transferred  to  New 
York;  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  who  from  Oct.  18, 
1770,  had  served  for  a  few  months  on  Manhattan 
Island,  being  ordered  to  Virginia. 

Tryon,  who  reached  New  York  July  8,  1772,  soon 


216  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

became  known  among  the  New  York  Sons  of  Liberty 
as  "  Bloody  Billy."  Before  the  Assembly  he  made  a 
conciliatory  speech  attributing  his  butchery  in  North 
Carolina  to  the  special  favour  of  a  kind  Providence. 
With  consummate  address  and  flattery,  and  the  adroit 
distribution  of  ministerial  patronage,  he  managed  to 
hoodwink  the  Assembly.  Backed  by  the  order  of  the 
British  Government  that  his  salary  should  be  paid  out 
of  the  revenue,  and  becoming  thus  independent  of  the 
colony,  he  was  well  fitted  to  be  the  king's  tool.  To 
the  amazement  of  the  patriots  like  Schuyler,  and  of 
other  colonies,  the  Legislature  of  New  York  seemed 
to  have  reversed  its  former  record,  and  to  have 
become  hopelessly  subservient. 

Local  affairs  were  meanwhile  well  attended  to. 
Early  in  January,  1772,  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  had 
long  believed  with  Philip  Schuyler  that  a  division  of 
Albany  County  should  be  made,  forwarded  a  petition 
from  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  county.  After 
considerable  discussion  a  bill  was  passed  by  which  the 
old  county  of  Albany  was  divided  into  three  counties, 
—  Albany,  Tryon,  and  Charlotte.  All  the  civil  officers, 
except  one  who  had  been  nominated  by  Johnson,  were 
appointed,  and  the  county- seat  of  Tryon  County  was 
fixed  by  the  Government  at  Johnstown.  At  Johnson's 
suggestion,  Tryon  County  was  divided  into  the  town 
ships  of  Mohawk,  Stone  Arabia,  Canajoharie,  Kings- 
land,  and  German  Flats. 

Johnstown  now  became  the  centre  of  bustle  and 
activity.  New  roads  were  laid  out,  and  a  jail  and 
county  court-house  built  j  while  new  settlers  came  in 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  217 

by  scores  to  select  lots  and  build  houses.  In  the  midst 
of  his  pressing  local  occupations,  Johnson,  who  had 
been  elected  a  trustee,  —  his  name  standing  first  on 
the  list  of  Queen's,  now  Rutgers  College,  chartered 
Nov.  10,  1766,  —  received  an  invitation  to  visit  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.  He  was  obliged  to  decline  to  at 
tend.  The  college  went  into  operation  in  1771;  but 
its  sessions  were  soon  interrupted,  both  professors 
and  students  entering  the  patriot  army  when  the  war 
broke  out. 

Remaining  at  home,  he  entertained  at  the  Hall,  in 
July,  Governor  Tryon  and  his  wife.  Tryon,  as  avari 
cious  as  he  was  murderous,  had  come  into  the  Valley 
under  pretence  of  holding  a  council  with  the  Indians 
to  redress  their  grievances  against  Klock  and  others. 
In  reality  his  purpose  was  speculation  in  land ;  and  the 
use  of  his  office,  like  that  of  so  many  royal  governors 
of  New  York,  was  to  swell  his  private  purse,  while 
taking  advantage  of  his"  high  position.  Although  the 
Indians  rehearsed  their  troubles,  and  Tryon  listened, 
they  obtained  from  the  governor,  who  was  too  busy 
with  his  money-making  schemes,  no  satisfaction. 
After  reviewing  the  militia  at  Johnstown,  Burnet's 
Field,  and  German  Flats,  fourteen  hundred  men  in 
all,  and  purchasing  a  large  tract  of  land  north  of  the 
Mohawk,  Tryon  returned  to  New  York.  His  name 
was  not  suffered  to  remain  on  the  map  of  New  York ; 
for  Tryon  County  before  many  years  became  one  of 
the  first  of  the  nineteen  counties  in  the  United  States 
named  after  General  Montgomery.  Shortly  after 
ward  Tryon  appointed  Johnson  major-general  of  the 
Northern  Department. 


2l8  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

At  a  council  with  the  chief  sachems  of  the  Confed 
eracy  of  the  Six  Nations -held  at  his  house,  at  the 
order  of  Lord  Dartmouth,  Johnson  obtained  from 
them  their  assent  to  the  purchase  of  twenty-three 
thousand  acres  north  of  the  Ohio,  by  the  Ohio  Com 
pany.  After  telling  the  chiefs  that  as  a  mark  of  the 
king's  friendship  to  them  Fort  Pitt  was  to  be  demol 
ished,  the  sachems  agreed  to  the  settlement  of  what 
grew  to  be  the  State  of  Ohio. 

Just  at  the  time  when  Sir  William  Johnson  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  most  varied  activities,  and  was  the 
most  popular  and  influential  man  in  the  whole  prov 
ince  of  New  York,  his  physical  strength  failed.  For 
several  years  the  inroads  upon  his  constitution  had 
warned  him  to  seek  the  rest  from  labours  and  from 
social  indulgence  which  seemed  impossible  to  him. 
For  the  last  ten  years  before  his  death  he  had  suffered 
at  intervals  from  dysentery,  which  often  kept  him  an  in 
valid  in  bed  for  weeks.  During  these  periods  «f  weak 
ness  the  unextracted  bullet  received  at  Lake  George 
in  1755  irritated  his  nerves,  and  made  his  wound  very 
painful.  Even  when  recovered  from  the  attacks  of 
the  disease  which  threatened  to  be  chronic,  active  ex 
ercise  was  frequently  impossible  for  a  long  time  after 
ward.  This  suffering,  though  so  grievous  to  himself, 
was  providentially  turned  to  the  advantage  of  millions. 
It  was  the  occasion  of  the  revelation  to  the  world  of 
the  health-giving  waters  of  Saratoga  Springs.  With  a 
touching  solicitude  for  his  personal  good,  the  Mo 
hawks  had  called  his  attention  to  the  remedial  value 
of  the  High  Rock  Spring,  to  which  they  always  turned 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  219 

aside  in  their  wanderings  or  hunts  eastward.  On  the 
22d  of  August,  1767,  Sir  William  left  the  Hall,  and 
was  borne  to  these  springs  by  his  devoted  Mohawks. 
He  travelled  in  a  boat  to  Schenectady,  and  on  their 
shoulders  in  a  litter  to  Saratoga.  A  halt  over  night 
was  made  at  Ballston  Lake  in  the  cabin  of  an  Irishman 
named  Michael  McDonald.  Reaching  the  springs  by 
way  of  the  Indian  trail  next  day,  his  faithful  bearers 
built  a  bark  hut,  and  tenderly  cared  for  him  during 
the  five  days  he  was  able  to  spend  there,  —  for  press 
ing  letters  soon  called  him  home.  The  Adirondack 
air  charged  with  ozone,  and  the  cleansing  and  healing 
waters  greatly  benefited  him.  After  his  return,  when 
this  fact  was  known,  others  followed  his  example. 
Known  for  ages  to  the  aborigines,  its  line  of  fame 
went  out  through  all  the  earth ;  and  gradually  'the 
evolution  of  the  most  famous  watering-place  in  Amer 
ica  followed.  It  is  noteworthy  that  a  camp  of  the 
red  men  is  still  found  at  Saratoga  Springs. 

Stone,  in  his  biography  of  Johnson,  calls  attention 
to  the  coincidence  that  while  Johnson  was  recovering 
at  Saratoga,  Dieskau  was  dying  at  Surenne  near  Paris. 
Both  had  been  leaders  of  the  opposing  forces,  and 
both  had  been  wounded  at  Lake  George  twelve  years 
before.  Arriving  on  the  4th  of  September,  he  was  in 
time  to  hail  his  knighted  son,  John,  just  home  from 
Europe.  Had  the  vital  nerve  of  an  electric  cable 
thrilled  under  the  ocean,  Johnson  would  have  heard, 
four  days  later,  of  the  decease  of  his  illustrious 
antagonist. 

Other  trips  for  the  sake  of  health  were  made  to  the 


220  SJR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON 

sea-shore  at  New  London,  Conn. ;  but  owing  to  the 
fact  of  his  being  so  often  overworked,  he  was  fre 
quently  prostrated  in  summer  by  his  old  enemy. 
When  Cresap's  war  broke  out  in  1774,  he  was  almost 
discouraged.  Chief  Logan's  relatives  —  the  Delaware 
chief  Bald  Eagle,  and  the  Shawanese  sachem  Silver 
Heels  —  had  been  murdered  by  white  men,  who  were 
too  eager  to  improve  red  men  off  the  face  of  the 
earth.  The  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  had  not  only  been 
trampled  under  foot  by  the  whites,  but  the  murderers 
of  Silver  Heels  had,  perhaps  unwittingly,  but  certainly 
in  accordance  with  Indian  interpretation,  committed 
a  symbolical  act  which  was  not  private,  but  national 
and  declarative.  It  meant  war.  After  the  white 
murderer  had  shot  Bald  Eagle,  who  was  alone  on  the 
river,  he  scalped  the  chief,  and  propping  his  body 
upright  in  his  canoe,  sent  him  adrift  down  the 
stream.  No  note  of  a  congress  or  decree  of  a  royal 
court  could  be  to  the  red  man  more  distinctly  a  dec 
laration  of  war  than  was  the  bloody  freight  which  this 
boat  bore  to  the  Indians. 

To  the  Six  Nations  the  murder  of  Logan,  their  kins 
man,  was  a  direct  insult  and  irritating  challenge ;  yet 
instead  of  rushing  to  massacre,  they  came  to  their 
friend  Johnson  to  ask  his  counsel.  For  weeks  be 
fore  the  congress  which  he  called  to  meet  at  his 
house,  July  7,  1774,  he  was  in  constant  correspond 
ence  with  his  agents  in  the  Ohio  and  Illinois  coun 
try.  As  fast  as  the  chiefs  arrived,  he  persuaded  them 
privately  to  refrain  from  war,  and  to  trust  in  him  to 
obtain  justice.  Six  hundred  Indians,  many  of  them 


AND   THE  SIX  NATIONS.  221 

from  great  distances,  were  impatiently  waiting  at 
Johnson  Hall  while  the  war  raged  on  the  borders  of 
Virginia.  Though  Johnson  was  sick  with  dysentery, 
he  took  no  thought  of  self.  From  a  sick-bed  he  rose 
to  attend  the  council.  After  preliminaries,  the  meet 
ing  on  the  Qth  of  July,  1774,  was  addressed  by  an 
eloquent  Seneca  chieftain.  Fortunately,  God's  day 
of  rest  intervened ;  but  on  Monday — the  last  of  John 
son's  days  on  earth  —  his  answer  was  given.  For 
two  hours,  on  a  hot  day  and  in  the  glare  of  a  July 
sun,  with  all  his  old-time  fire  of  eloquence,  this  friend 
of  the  red  man  spoke  in  grave  discourse.  His  dic 
tion  was  fiery,  rhetorical,  impassioned  at  times j  but 
he  spoke  judicially  on  the  problem  in  hand,  plead 
ing  that  they  should  not  rush  into  war,  but  await 
the  course  of  law.  Six  hundred  dark  faces,  unrip- 
pled  with  emotion,  were  fixed  intently  with  burning 
but  immovable  eyes,  and  with  the  gravity  of  statues, 
on  the  speaker  during  the  long  discourse.  Then  after 
the  peroration,  pipes  and  tobacco  were  passed  around, 
and  the  conference  broke  up,  that  the  auditors  might 
prepare,  through  their  orator,  a  reply. 

Johnson  never  heard  the  Indians'  rejoinder.  A 
few  minutes  after  the  conclusion  he  was  taken  with 
relapse.  Supported  to  his  library,  he  soon  became 
unconscious,  and  before  sunset  was  dead. 

It  was  euthanasia.  Past  all  call  to  decide  between 
Indian  tribe  and  tribe,  between  white  murderers  and 
red,  between  serving  conscience  and  king,  between 
following  the  colonies  for  freedom  under  law  or  sup 
porting  arbitrary  despotism  under  the  fiction  of  power 


222  SIR    WILLIAM  JOHNSON. 

by  the  grace  of  God,  Johnson  rested  from  his  labours. 
He  was  one  of  the  Makers  of  America,  building 
grander  than  he  knew.  His*  place  in  history  is  sure. 
Had  he  lived  a  decade  later !  —  but  here  we  enter 
the  region  of  conjecture,  the  ground  forbidden  to 
history. 


INDEX. 


ABERCROMBIE,  General,  68,  152- 

155,  168-171. 
Akin,  N.  Y.,  24,  32. 
Alamance,  N.  C.,  214-216. 
Albany,  13,  28-30,  68,  70,  79,  114, 

127-131. 

Albany  County,  216. 
Algonkin  Indians,  38. 
Amherst,  Lord,  173-176,  178,  186. 
Auriesville,  N.  Y.,  23. 


BARCLAY,  Rev.  Thomas,  21,  79. 

Barnwell,  Col.  John,  52. 

Beavers,  26. 

Beukendal,  battle  at,  97-108. 

Bible,  9,  10. 

Bloody  Pond,  81,  136. 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  55,  208. 

Boone,  Daniel,  193. 

Boston,  30,  161. 

Bouquet,  Colonel,  154,  188. 

Braddock,  General,  68,  132,    135, 

154. 
Bradstreet,  Colonel,  156,  169,  171, 

190. 

Brant,  Joseph,  120,  189,  208. 
Brant,  Mary,  180,  206. 
Broadalbin,  N.  Y.,  199. 
Butler,  John,  18,  159. 
Butler,  Thomas,  171. 
Butler,  Walter,  18,  159. 


CALENDARS,  97. 
Canajoharie,  17,  79,  173. 
Captives,  51,  189-191. 
Catawba  Indians,  114,  123,  124. 
Caughnawaga,    17,  24,    56.      See 

Fonda. 

Cayuga  Indians,  37. 
Champlain,  38,  40,  41. 
Cherokee  Indians,  213. 
Cherry  Valley,  17,  116,  198,  209. 
Clinton,  Gov.  George,  65,  72,  83- 

92,  105,  109-117,  122,  124. 
Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  124,  125. 
Chucktununda  creek,  24,  32. 
Church  edifices,  8-10,  15,  70,  71, 

192,  196. 

Clans,  Captain,  187,  208. 
Golden,   Dr.  Cadwallader,  37,  72, 

75,  79,  80,  86,  105,  107, 182,  210, 

211. 

Confederacies,  51,  53,54,  127,  191. 
Congress,  127-131. 
Connecticut,  80,  98,  100,  104. 
Cooper,  J.  F.,  59,  60,  190. 
Corlaer,  3, 4,  45,  94.    See  also  Van 

Curler,  Arendt. 
Courcelles,  44. 
Cresap's  war,  220. 
Crown  Point,  69,  70,  85,  95,  118, 

146,  147,  187. 
Crullers,  14. 
Cuoq,  Rev.  I.  A.,  43. 


224 


INDEX. 


DARTMOUTH  College,  120,  121. 

De  Lancey,  E.  F.,  21. 

De  Lancey,   Gov.  James,   72,  83, 

126,  129,  132. 
De  Lancey,  Stephen,  12- 
De  Lancey,  Susan,  12. 
Delaware  Indians,    155,  156,    172, 

iSS-IQI,   220. 

De  Peyster,  Gen.  J.  W.,  n,  208. 
Detroit,  177-179,  181,  191. 
De  Witt,  Simeon,  183. 
Dieskau,  Baron,  133,  137-141, 145, 

219. 
Domines  in  the  Dutch  Church,  15, 

55.  7i. 

Dorp.     See  Schenectady. 
Drummers,  19,  29. 
Dutch  Republic.     See  Holland. 


EASTMAN,  Dr.  C.  A.,  121. 

Easton,  Penn.,  156,  172. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  119. 

Eliot,  John,  55. 

Eyre,  Major  William,  134, 160, 179. 


FISH  House,  199. 

Fonda,  Major  Jellis,  17,  159. 

Fonda,  N.  Y.,  1 7,  44, 58,  204.    See 

Caughnawaga. 
Fort  Bull,  148,  149. 
Fort  Frontenac,  171. 
Fort  George,  147,  175. 
Fort  Hunter,  17,  21. 
Fort  Massachusetts,  8r,  132. 
Fort  Plain,  17. 
Fort  Stanwix,  171,  179,  186. 
Fort  William  Henry,  144, 1 60,  161, 

«75« 

France,  61,  62. 
Franklin  Benjamin,  131. 
Freeman,  Domine,  208. 


Freeman,  E.  A.,  53. 

French  ideas,  61-64,  66,  69,   112, 

113,  I51- 
Fur  trade,  19,  24,  28-30. 


GAGE,  General,  161,  190. 

German  Flats,  6,  17,  161, 164-166. 

Germans,  5-10,  20,  72,  153-155. 

Ginseng,  23,  198. 

Golden  Hill,  Battle  of,  212. 

Governors,  65  :  Andros,  30 ;  Bur- 
net,  1 8,  19;  Cosby,  7,  18,  89; 
Craven,  51,  52;  Denny,  156; 
Dinwiddie,  128  ;  Dongan,  57, 
58  ;  Dunmore,  Lord,  215 ;  Fitch, 
1 86;  Glen,  114;  Hardy,  144, 
146,  147,  162;  Hunter,  6:  Moore, 
210;  Morris,  155;  Nicholson,  5  ; 
Osborne,  124-126;  Shirley,  74, 
83,  96,  128,  133,  147-149,  i52> 
156;  Tryon,  214-217. 


HAMILTON,  James  Alexander,  7. 
Hartford,  186. 
Hasenclever,  Peter,  205. 
Hawley,  Rev.  Gideon,  120. 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  8,  10. 
Hendrick,  King,  129,  133,  136. 
Herkimer,  17. 

Holland,  i,  n,  53,  61-63,  87,  91, 
93,  no,  123,  125,  127,  182,  183. 
Horicon,  133. 

Horsmanden,  Judge,  83,  93. 
Howe,  Lord,  163,  169. 


INDIANS,  antiquities,  59 ;  councils, 
115  ;  dislike  of  artillery,  137, 
187  ;  effect  on  British  imagina 
tion,  59,  60  ;  etiquette,  45  ;  fire 
arms,  5 1  ;  government,  36  ;  half- 


INDEX. 


225 


breeds,  5 1  ;•  heraldry,  48,  49; 
industry,  40,  41  ;  in  executive 
council,  no,  116  ;  in  politics,  64, 
178,  179,  184;  inventions,  35, 
50  ;  money,  48  ;  oratory,  47  ;  reli 
gion,  46,  49,  50,  55-60 ;  strata 
gems,  100  ;  sports  and  games, 
99;  totems,  49,  184;  warfare, 
38-40,  70,  7*,  100-104,  135-137, 
140,  144. 

Interpreters,  47,  161,  189. 

Iroquois,  38-41,  44,  51,  35-60,  68, 
69,  72,  107,  112,  127,  135,  149, 
186,  193,  220. 


JOHNSON,  Guy,  179,  186,  208. 

Johnson  Hall,  194-205. 

Johnson,  Mary,  209. 

Johnson,  Nancy,  208. 

Johnson,  Sir  John,  22,  32,  206-208, 
219. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  adoption 
as  chief,  77 ;  agriculture,  203, 
204;  ancestry,  n;  arrival  in 
America,  12  ;  baronet,  145  ;  birth, 
ii ;  captures  Niagara,  173-175, 
character,  13,  23 ;  children,  33, 
180,  206-208  ;  coat-of-arms,  145; 
colonel,  83, 148  ;  councils,  65,  80- 
82  ;  disagrees  with  Shirley,  147, 
148;  education,  12,  119;  educa 
tion  of  the  Indians,  119-121 ; 
fortifies  his  house,  187  ;  freema 
son,  198;  his  housekeeper,  22; 
his  wife,  20-23  >  h'is  houses,  22, 
24,  32,  194-196;  in  executive 
council,  no,  115,  117,  209,  in 
troduces  fine  cattle,  6,  203,  204  ; 
in  Indian  costume,  33  ;  journey  to 
Mohawk  Valley,  13-16  ;  journey 
to  Detroit,  179, 181 ;  Lake  George 
campaign,  18,  81,  133-145  5  lit 


erary  tastes,  119,  203,  204  ;  ma 
jor-general,  133,  217 ;  manu 
scripts,  45,  97,  98;  marriage, 
21  ;  money,  48 ;  Mount  Johnson, 
22,  24,  33,  67,  94 ;  offers  reward 
for  scalps,  189 ;  oratory,  46,  47, 
221  ;  patience,  46 ;  pleasures, 
199,  201-204;  protects  French 
men,  174,  177;  public  life,  66, 
67  ;  shoots  an  elk,  25 ;  resigna 
tion  of  office,  112;  royal  grant, 
194,  195 ;  superintendent,  76- 
79,  112,  115,  133,  148;  tomb, 
196  ;  trade,  31-34;  wampum,  48  \ 
work,  64 ;  wounded,  139,  218. 

Jogues,  Isaac,  44,  55,  56,  133. 

Johnstown,  N.  Y.,  196,  197,  216, 
217. 

Joncaire,  93,  114. 

Jones,  Thomas,  26. 

Judges,  182. 

KALM,  107,  108. 

Kings :  Charles  II.,  93 ;  George  II., 

105,  178;  George  III.,  211. 
Kirkland,  Domine,  198. 
,  57,  58. 


LAKE  Champlain,  38,  40,  44. 
Lake  George,  67,  81,  133. 
Land  Patents,  123,  182-184. 
La  Prairie,  57,  58,  187. 
La  Presentation,  114,  118. 
Leisler,  5,6,  71. 
Livingston,  Philip,  no. 
Livingston,  William,  182. 
Loudon,  Lord,  68,  152,  153,  157, 

159,  166. 
Lyman,  Col.  Phineas,  139,  143. 

MAIZE,  20,  25. 
Manor  system,  i,  2. 


226 


INDEX. 


McGinnis,  Capt.  William,  141-143. 
Megapolensis,  38,  55,  56. 
Middle  States,  63,  209. 
Mohawk  Indians,  17,  37,  44,  77-79, 

123, 140,  159,  184,  188,  214. 
Mohawk  Valley,  1-9,  16,  25,  30, 

34,  36,  66,  70,  73,  92,  1 1 8,  119, 

125,   164,   187,  202,  204. 

Montcalm,  General,  157,  158,  162, 

163,  169,  170. 
Montgomery  County,  217. 
Montmagny,  43. 


NEW  England,  i,  54,  62,  75,  150, 

209. 

New  England  militia,  15,  137-145. 
New  York  Assembly,  83-91,  no, 

in,  146,  149-151,  210. 
New  York  Colony  and  State,  36, 

63,  66,  74,  75,  90,  91,  150,  216. 
Niagara,  118,  149,  i73-J75>  I9°- 
Norman's  Kill,  37,  41. 
North  Carolina,  51,  52,  214-216. 
Nott,  Dr.  Eliphalet,  121. 


OGDENSBURG,  175. 
Ohio  Company,  112,  218. 
Ohio  Valley,  112,  113,  122,  127. 
Oneida  Indians,  37,  58. 
Onondaga  Indians,  37,  58,  59,  93, 

94,  96,  118,  119,  124,  155. 
Onontio,  43. 

Osborne,  Sir  Danvers,  124-126. 
Oswego,  19,  20,   32,  84,   92,   116, 

122,  149,  155-158,  175,  192. 
Ottawa  Indians,  51,  181,  191. 


PALATINES.    See  Germans. 
Parker,  the  printer,  89-91. 
Parkman,  42,  43,  97. 


Pennsylvania,  9,  154,  156,  172. 
Picquet,  Francis,  113,  158. 
Pitt,  William,  168. 
Pompey  Stone,  118. 
Pontiac,   177,  187,  188,  191,  192, 
201. 


QUEBEC,  69,  175,  176. 


RIFLES,  156, 188. 

Royal  American    Regiment,   153, 

154. 
Rutgers  College,  217. 


SACANDAGA,  96-103. 
Saratoga,  17,  73. 
Saratoga  Springs,  67,  218,  219. 
Schenectady,  2-4,    14-16,  30,  36, 

37,  39»  48,  58>  70)  92~I08,  115, 

171,  176,  184,  192. 
Schoharie,  8,  9,  16,  17. 
Schuyler,  Peter  (Quider),  45,  180. 
Schuyler  (2d),  74,  76,  84. 
Schuyler,  Philip,  205,  207,  216. 
Seneca  Indians,  18,  37,   114,  188, 

190. 

Sergeant,  John,  119,  120. 
Shea,  J.  G.,  59. 
Simms,  J.  R.,  21,  200. 
Sioux  Indians,  81. 
Six  Nations.     See  Iroquois. 
South  Carolina,  52. 
Spraker's  Basin,  56. 
Stevens,  Arent,  161. 
Stuyvesant,  Peter,  93. 

TAXATION,  117, 118,  209-216. 
Teedyuscung,  155,  156,  172,  189. 
Ticonderoga,  147. 
Toll  farm,  97-108. 


INDEX. 


227 


Trade,  28-32. 

Tuscarora  Indians,  37,  51-53. 

UNION  College,  121. 

VAN  CURLER,  Arendt,  2 ;  educa 
tion,  2  ;  first  visits  Mohawk  Val 
ley,  56;  founds  Schenectady,  2,  3, 
184 ;  name  given  by  Indians,  42, 
43  ;  ransoms  Jogues,  56  ;  work, 
38, 166. 

Van  Slyck,  Albert,  97-108. 

Victoria,  Queen,  43. 

Vrooman,  Domine,  207. 

WAMPUM,  15,  22,  26,  47-49,  112. 
Warren,  Admiral  Peter,  12,  13,  43, 
66,  67,  119,  122,  188. 


Warrensburg,  N.  Y.,  16. 
Washington,  George,  114,  126, 136 

160,  168. 
Webb,  General,  152,  158,  159,  162, 

163. 

Webster,  Daniel,  183. 
Wheelock,  Dr.  Eleazar,  120. 
Whiting,  Gen.  Nathan,  136. 
Williams,  Col.  William,  81,  134- 

136,  138. 

Winslow,  General,  152. 
Wisenburg,  Catharine,  wife  of  Sir 

William  Johnson,  20-22,  180. 
Wolfe,  General,  168. 
Wyoming  Valley,  186. 


ZENGER,  John  Peter,  7,  8,  89,  90. 


MAKERS  OF  AMERICA. 


The  following  is  a  list  of  the  subjects  and  authors  so 
far  arranged  for  in  this  series.  The  volumes  will 
be  published  at  the  uniform  price  of  $1.00,  and 
will  appear  in  rapid  succession :  — 

Christopher  Columbus  (1436-1506),  and  the  Discov 
ery  of  the  New  World.  By  CHARLES  KENDALL 
ADAMS,  President  of  Cornell  University. 

John  Winthrop  (1588-1649),  First  Governor  of 
the  Massachusetts  Colony.  By  Rev.  JOSEPH  H. 
TWICHELL. 

Robert  Morris  (1734-1806),  Superintendent  of  Finance 
under  the  Continental  Congress.  By  Prof.  WILLIAM 
G.  SUMNER,  of  Yale  University. 

James  Edward  Oglethorpe  (1689-1785),  and  the  Found 
ing  of  the  Georgia  Colony.  By  HENRY  BRUCE, 
Esq. 

John  Hughes,  D.D.  (1797-1864),  First  Archbishop  of 
New -York  :  a  Representative  American  Catholic. 
By  HENRY  A.  BRANN,  D.D. 

Robert  Fulton  (1765-1815):  His  Life  and  its  Results. 
By  Prof.  R.  H.  THURSTON,  of  Cornell  University. 

Francis  Higginson  (1587-1630),  Puritan,  Author  of 
"  New  England's  Plantation,"  etc.  By  THOMAS  W. 
HIGGINSON. 


2  MAKERS    OF  AMERICA. 

Peter  Stuyvesant  (1602-1682),  and  the  Dutch  Settle 
ment  of  New- York.  By  BAYARD  TUCKERMAN, 
Esq.,  author  of  a  "  Life  of  General  Lafayette, " 
editor  of  the  "  Diary  of  Philip  Hone,"  etc.,  etc. 

Thomas  Hooker  (1586-1647),  Theologian,  Founder  of 
the  Hartford  Colony.  By  GEORGE  L.  WALKER, 
D.D. 

Charles  Sumner  (1811-1874),  Statesman.  By  ANNA 
L.  DAWES. 

Thomas  Jefferson  (1743-1826),  Third  President  of  the 
United  States.  By  JAMES  SCHOULER,  Esq.,  author 
of  "A  History  of  the  United  States  under  the 
Constitution." 

"William  White  (1748-1836),  Chaplain  of  the  Continen 
tal  Congress,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  President  of 
the  Convention  to  organize  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  America.  By  Rev.  JULIUS  H.  WARD, 
with  an  Introduction  by  Right  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter, 
D.D.,  Bishop  of  New- York. 

Jean  Baptiste  Lemoine,  sieur  de  Bienville  (1680-1768), 
French  Governor  of  Louisiana,  Founder  of  New 
Orleans.  By  GRACE  KING,  author  of  "  Monsieur 
Motte." 

Alexander  Hamilton  (1757-1804),  Statesman,  Finan 
cier,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  By  Prof.  WILLIAM 
G.  SUMNER,  of  Yale  University. 

Father  Juniper  Serra  (1713-1784),  and  the  Franciscan 
Missions  in  California.  By  JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA, 
LL.D. 

Cotton  Mather  (1663-1728),  Theologian,  Author,  Be 
liever  in  Witchcraft  and  the  Supernatural.  By  Prof. 
BARRETT  WENDELL,  of  Harvard  University. 


MAKERS    OF  AMERICA.  3 

Robert  Cavelier,  sieur  de  La  Salle  (1643-1687),  Ex 
plorer  of  the  Northwest  and  the  Mississippi.  By 
EDWARD  G.  MASON,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Histori 
cal  Society  of  Chicago,  author  of  "  Illinois"  in  the 
Commonwealth  Series. 

Thomas  Nelson  (1738-1789),  Governor  of  Virginia, 
General  in  the  Revolutionary  Army.  Embracing  a 
Picture  of  Virginian  Colonial  Life.  By  THOMAS 
NELSON  PAGE,  author  of  "Mars  Chan,"  and  other 
popular  stories. 

George  and  Cecilius  Calvert,  Barons  Baltimore  of 
Baltimore  (1605-1676),  and  the  Founding  of  the 
Maryland  Colony.  By  WILLIAM  HAND  BROWNE, 
editor  of  "The  Archives  of  Maryland.'' 

Sir  William  Johnson  (1715-1774),  and  The  Six  Na 
tions.  By  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  D.D.,  author 
of  "  The  Mikado's  Empire,"  etc. ,  etc. 

Sam.  Houston  (1793-1862),  and  the  Annexation  of 
Texas.  By  HENRY  BRUCE,  Esq. 

Joseph  Henry,  LL.D.  (1797-1878),  Savant  and  Natural 
Philosopher.  By  FREDERIC  H  BETTS,  Esq. 

Ralph  "Waldo  Emerson.  By  Prof.  HERMAN  GRIMM, 
author  of  "  The  Life  of  Michael  Angelo,"  "  The  Life 
and  Times  of  Goethe/'  etc. 

DODD,   MEAD,   &  COMPANY, 

753  and  755  Broadway,  New  York. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


'        9Nov'6iKf 

rJAN  i  S  2oni 

•             U 

210ct'92WA 

•-     -CA?. 

-  i 

••     • 

UU  12  )362 

Dtu  06  1987 

IHIBFEB061988 

SENT  ON  ILL 

SEP  i  5  1998 

U.  C.  BERKELEY 

LD  21A-50m-8.'61 


General  Library 


YB  20452 


101846 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


